Israel expects President Trump to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons in any agreement reached with the country, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday, adding that Israel would not withdraw from “security zones” in Lebanon.
Mr. Trump told reporters Thursday that an agreement had been reached and would likely be signed within days, though Tehran said it “had not reached a final conclusion” on the potential deal.
In a statement Friday, Katz said Mr. Trump was “leading an agreement with Iran from the perspective of American interests, including the common interest with Israel – to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.”
“We expect him to uphold this principle, and other principles in the field of missiles and terrorist proxies,” he said, adding that Israel “will not withdraw” from what it calls security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza, where it has deployed ground forces and forced residents to evacuate.
Katz said in late March that a buffer zone would be established in southern Lebanon, extending miles north of the Israeli border, and that Israel would retain control over the region even when its war with Iranian-backed Hezbollah ends.
In May, Israel extended the “security zone” to around 25 miles north of the border. Lebanese officials say more than one million people have been displaced.
Israel’s “deliberate acts of displacement may amount to war crimes of forced displacement,” Human Rights Watch said Thursday.
Israel’s war with Hezbollah has been a key sticking point in the U.S.-Iran negotiations. Iran has demanded that any deal to extend the ceasefire must include an end to fighting in Lebanon and Gaza. The Trump administration has publicly sought to curb Israeli operations in Lebanon, but Israel and Hezbollah have continued trading fire.
Israeli attacks had killed 3,711 people in Lebanon as of Thursday, including 132 medical workers and 247 children, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
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