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Yeshiva World News

Netanyahu Pushes for Israeli Freedom of Action in Lebanon as US-Iran Deal Takes Shape

May 25, 2026·3 min read

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pressing the Trump administration to preserve Israel’s right to conduct military operations on all fronts, including southern Lebanon, as the United States and Iran close in on a draft Memorandum of Understanding, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the negotiations.

Both Washington and Tehran have tempered expectations of an imminent breakthrough, with the two sides still divided over Iran’s nuclear program, Tehran’s demands for sanctions relief, and the ongoing war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, according to the Reuters report.

The Israeli demand could complicate the talks if Iranian negotiators insist on a complete halt to Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon as part of the agreement. An Israeli official familiar with Netanyahu’s private discussions told Reuters that the prime minister has voiced concerns about the current draft of the MOU. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

A senior Trump administration official told Reuters that the agreement would have Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the United States lifting its naval blockade, with further negotiations on the nuclear file to follow. The talks have been conducted indirectly through Pakistani mediation. Iranian sources told Reuters that future stages could produce “feasible formulas” to address Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, including diluting the material under supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog.

Although the draft does not directly address Israeli concerns over Iran’s nuclear program, Netanyahu has acknowledged that Israel “has no maneuver to influence the president right now,” the Israeli official told Reuters.

Trump and Netanyahu have spoken by phone at least three times over the past week, the news agency reported, a stretch during which Israeli officials said the country had prepared for a potential return to joint US-Israeli strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure.

Asked by reporters after the first of those calls, on Tuesday night, what he had told the Israeli leader, Trump replied: “He’s a very good man, he’ll do whatever I want him to do.” The two spoke again Friday night, according to Reuters. A third call followed on Saturday, after Trump held a joint conversation with leaders from the Gulf, Turkey, and Pakistan to brief them on the state of the Iran talks.

Netanyahu, who had not previously commented publicly on the emerging deal, issued a statement after that third call saying he and Trump had discussed the “memorandum of understanding to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the upcoming negotiations toward a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.” He said the two leaders “agreed that any final agreement… means dismantling Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites and removing its enriched nuclear material from its territory.”

Netanyahu added that Trump “reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself against threats on every front, including Lebanon.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

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