Washington — The U.S. is convening hastily arranged diplomatic talks next week in Washington, D.C., in an effort to craft a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israeli troops have been pounding Iranian-backed Hezbollah targets with airstrikes and also killing Lebanese civilians.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s office is planning the three-way talks, which will be led by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa along with Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad and Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, according to two sources familiar with the matter and one Lebanese official. The sources described this as a discussion about how to launch direct talks.
A State Department official confirmed to CBS News that representatives from the two sides will meet at the department next week.
Shortly after Israel and the U.S. began the war with Iran, Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in a show of solidarity with Tehran. Israel then launched a new offensive against Hezbollah, and invaded much of southern Lebanon.
Lebanon has emerged as one of the thorniest issues complicating the nascent diplomacy with the U.S. and Iran. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi — who is expected to join upcoming talks in Islamabad — accused the U.S. of letting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kill diplomacy.
Multiple diplomatic sources told CBS News that President Trump had been told that the ceasefire announced Thursday would apply to the Middle East region, and he agreed that included Lebanon. Mediators believed the ceasefire to include Lebanon, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that it did. Araghchi also said it was included.
On the day of the ceasefire, a White House official told CBS News that Israel had also agreed with the terms of the deal that Pakistan had helped to broker.
However, the U.S. position shifted following a phone call between Netanyahu and Mr. Trump. Two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News that the changing U.S. positions, and the disjointed remnant of the regime in Iran, are making the diplomacy highly complex.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Wednesday that there was a “legitimate misunderstanding” about the terms of the ceasefire, but he placed blame on the Iranians for misunderstanding that it included their proxy forces in Lebanon.
But Vance also nodded to an American desire to see Israel scale back its offensive in Lebanon. Israel, as he put it, offered to “check themselves a little bit in Lebanon.”
On Thursday, Netanyahu said he had agreed to allow Israeli diplomats to accept the Lebanese government’s request to hold talks. He did not provide specifics, and insisted there is no ceasefire in Lebanon.
Vance has emerged as a senior leader in the diplomacy with Iran. He was the most senior U.S. official to meet with Omani mediators who unsuccessfully tried to broker a deal to avert the U.S. and Israeli strikes that kicked off the war on Feb. 28. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner have twice led rounds of diplomacy with Iran in the past 10 months, only to have those efforts cut short by U.S. military action.
Multiple diplomatic sources told CBS News that Iran welcomed Vance’s involvement in particular because of Iranian distrust of Witkoff and Kushner. Two sources told CBS News that it was Witkoff’s idea to involve the vice president.