Middle East
Trump wants to talk to Hezbollah. Will they pick up the phone?
Sources inside the group are being coy about negotiating directly, while Israel and Iran have their own reasons to keep the calls from getting through
August 13, 2026
Sources inside the group are being coy about negotiating directly, while Israel and Iran have their own reasons to keep the calls from getting through
Officials in Beirut know that any agreement with Israel would be dead on arrival at home
Forcing a hard wedge against the country's Shia is exactly what Israel wants, but it could imperil a wide range of US interests in the Middle East
The ambassador also says Washington will build a permanent embassy in Jerusalem
Whether the Trump admin is coordinating with Israel remains unclear to Tehran. But suspicions surrounding Marco Rubio run particularly deep.
The mediators are determined not to let Lebanon be a poison pill, so they set up a mechanism to prevent the shaky MOU from falling apart
