Trump says Lebanon excluded from US-Iran ceasefire as Israeli assault continues

Thursday April 9, 2026

Rescuers stand amid rubble at the site of an Israeli strike in Tyre, Lebanon, on April 8 [Adnan Abidi/Reuters]

President Donald Trump said Lebanon was left out of the ceasefire between the United States and Iran, a position that directly undercut Pakistan’s claim that it had helped secure a truce covering the wider region.

The comment came after Israel unleashed a sweeping assault on Lebanon on Wednesday that killed and wounded more than 1,400 people in crowded areas. Trump brushed off the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah as a “separate skirmish”.

“Because of Hezbollah, they were not included in the deal,” Trump told the public broadcaster PBS. “That’ll get taken care of, too. It’s all right.”

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt reinforced the president’s line later on Wednesday.

“ Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire that has been relayed to all parties involved in the ceasefire,” she told reporters.

Leavitt also rejected suggestions that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might be trying to weaken the truce through strikes on Lebanon, describing Israel as a “key ally and partner” of the United States.

Neither Leavitt nor Trump addressed Pakistan’s statement that Lebanon was included in the ceasefire agreement.

Iranian warnings

Removing Lebanon from the deal could put the broader ceasefire at risk. Iranian state-linked media have reported that Tehran is preparing a serious response to the Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

The Fars News Agency reported that “oil tankers have been suspended from passing through the Strait of Hormuz” in reaction to the Israeli assault.

Iranian officials have not confirmed that account. It is also not clear whether any suspension was temporary or intended to last longer.

Tasnim news agency also quoted an informed Iranian source as saying Tehran would pull out of the agreement if Israel keeps violating the ceasefire through its attacks on Lebanon.

A senior Iranian official told Al Jazeera Arabic that Tehran will “punish Israel in response to the crime it committed in Lebanon”.

The official said the ceasefire covers the entire region. “Israel is known for breaking promises and will only be deterred by bullets,” the source said.

Despite the threats, Iran had not fired missiles or drones at Israel in the hours after the Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

Later on Wednesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned that fighting would resume if Israel does not respect the ceasefire in Lebanon.

“If the aggressions against dear Lebanon are not stopped immediately, we will do our duty and give a regretful response to the evil aggressors in the region,” it said.

Late on Tuesday, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the two-week truce applies across the region, making specific mention of Lebanon.

“With the greatest humility, I am pleased to announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America, along with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY,” Sharif wrote on the social media platform X.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Arghchi later shared Sharif’s post on Wednesday and highlighted the reference to Lebanon.

“The Iran-US Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the US must choose – ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both,” Arghchi wrote.

“The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”

Israel’s Channel 12 also reported that Iran had insisted Lebanon be included in the ceasefire.

Netanyahu, however, quickly made clear that strikes on Lebanon would continue.

At least 250 people killed

Within hours of those remarks, Israel carried out one of the most intense attacks in the history of the conflict in Lebanon, hitting residential blocks, mosques, medical centres, vehicles and cemeteries across the country.

Lebanese health authorities said at least 254 people were killed and more than 1,160 others were injured in the assault.

“The needs are increasing, but the scale of the assault is also huge,” Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine told Al Jazeera.

“We are facing a dangerous escalation that happened in Lebanon, an Israeli aggression with more than 100 air strikes that targeted innocent civilians in Beirut, Dahiyeh, Bekaa, Mount Lebanon and the south.”

The attacks deepened Lebanon’s humanitarian and displacement crisis, with more than 1.2 million people already driven from their homes.

One strike hit a funeral in the Bekaa Valley town of Shmestar, killing at least 20 people.

Air raids were also reported in central Beirut and in the coastal cities of Sidon and Tyre.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam urged the international community to intervene and “bring an end to these aggressions”.

Israel “remains utterly heedless of all regional and international efforts to halt the war – not to mention its utter disregard for the principles of international law and international humanitarian law, which it has never respected”, Salam said.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, said the Israeli strikes were fuelled by “blind malice, habitual criminality and boundless brutality”. It reiterated what it called its “natural and legal right” to resist the attack.

“This barbaric aggression – which constitutes documented war crimes and acts of genocide through targeting of densely populated civilian areas, markets and commercial shops during peak hours – is nothing more than a desperate attempt to exact revenge upon the civilian population,” the Iran-allied group said.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated after the Lebanese group launched a rocket attack on Israel in early March. Hezbollah said that assault came in response to Israeli violations and the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The sides had agreed to a ceasefire in November 2024, but Israel has continued daily attacks across Lebanon in the more than 15 months since.