Israeli strikes have killed at least 32 people in Lebanon, threatening to derail talks between the United States and Iran aimed at cementing a fragile peace deal.
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, were expected in Switzerland, US media reported on Friday, after the negotiations were postponed earlier in the week. After Israel’s attacks in Lebanon, it remains unclear when the Iranians will attend.
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Witkoff was on his way to the Alpine nation on Friday, Axios said, quoting an unnamed US official, while CNN reported his trip comes as Washington and Iran work to get technical talks that follow up on the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) “back on track”.
Trump’s envoy Kushner was also expected to be in Switzerland for talks, CNN said, quoting a US official. Axios said he was already there.
Vice President JD Vance had initially been expected to travel but postponed his trip, the White House announced late on Thursday.
Axios said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was expected to travel to Switzerland on Saturday, but other sources said his trip may be delayed. A source from one of the mediating countries said Araghchi told several counterparts that Iran views a ceasefire in Lebanon as essential to the diplomatic process and that it could “make or break” the US-Iran talks. Another source said Iranian officials want to see a ceasefire take hold before heading to Switzerland.
The Iranian Students’ News Agency said Araghchi will meet Pakistan’s visiting Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Tehran on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Swiss foreign ministry said on Saturday that it continues to provide a “discreet and reliable setting” at Buergenstoc to facilitate discussions on implementing the MoU.
It added in a statement that no further details would be disclosed about participants and the content of the talks, citing confidentiality.
“We’ve got one big conflict, two wars… the US is focusing on one war, but the ceasefire in the other war is the key to bringing the parties together”, James Bays, Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor, said from Buergenstoc.
“It seems pretty clear Iran is not coming here while that bombardment continues in Lebanon, and they’ve got reason…because in the agreement signed by the US and Iran…. it says there has to be a ceasefire, and there is clearly not a ceasefire in place.”
32 killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon
Israeli air strikes and drone attacks in southern Lebanon, just hours after a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group took effect, have complicated the planned US-Iran talks.
Lebanon’s civil defence agency said ongoing Israeli strikes on the Nabatieh district in the country’s south on Saturday had killed 16 people and wounded 12.
A Lebanese soldier was killed in an Israeli attack on the village of Kfar Reman, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said.
NNA also reported Israeli attacks in the Tyre District, with an Israeli strike on the village of Barish killing four members of the same family – a father, a mother and their two children.
A separate Israeli raid hit a house in Sohmor in the western Bekaa while a family was inside, killing four people and injuring one, NNA said.
An Israeli strike on Qanarit, in the Sidon district, also killed at least seven people and wounded 13, Lebanon’s Health Emergency Operations Centre said.
The attacks come after Israel and Hezbollah announced a renewed ceasefire in Lebanon.
“It does point to the shaky nature of this ceasefire, and also how the whole negotiating process does seem to be reliant upon Lebanon and what happens here in the coming days and weeks”, said Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Beirut.
Article 1 of the MoU explicitly states that ending the war in Lebanon is an integral part of the broader ceasefire arrangement across all fronts.
The Lebanese army said in a statement on Saturday that the continuation of Israeli attacks on Lebanon aimed to obstruct efforts to restore stability in the country.
Following a ceasefire agreement reached in November 2024, the government in Lebanon has been seeking to disarm Hezbollah as part of a US-backed roadmap. The Lebanese government has also pushed for Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
The text of an agreement earlier this month called for Hezbollah’s withdrawal to the north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon but did not call for Israel’s full withdrawal.
Hezbollah said on Saturday that it had targeted Israeli troops that had advanced towards an area near Nabatieh overnight.
The Israeli military published a statement shortly after, stating Hezbollah had launched more than 50 projectiles towards its soldiers operating in southern Lebanon overnight, claiming it was the armed group that was violating the ceasefire.
Upcoming talks between Lebanon and the US
The US State Department has said that a new round of talks between Israel and Lebanon will be held in Washington, DC, on June 23 and 25, and will aim to “make progress toward a lasting peace”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday that “Lebanon’s bilateral negotiations with Israel represent the only feasible path to reconstruction, economic recovery, and ending recurrent cycles of violence”, according to the State Department.
However, the talks have not included Hezbollah, hampering any meaningful progress.
On Saturday, Ali Fayyad, a representative of the Hezbollah faction in the Lebanese parliament, said in remarks carried by Iran’s Tasnim news agency that the armed group ruled out a ceasefire with Israel while Israeli forces remain on Lebanese territory, warning that any further aggression would be met with a response.
“The position of the resistance is clear, unambiguous, non-negotiable and without retreat,” Fayyad said, adding: “A ceasefire while the enemy continues its targeting and assassinations is meaningless. The right to self-defence is established for us and is not subject to bargaining or negotiation.”
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