Esmail Baghai: “If Israel does not leave Lebanon, the agreement with the United States will be canceled”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai said in an interview with the Lebanese publication Al-Akhbar that the continuation of the Israeli presence in southern Lebanon would mean the cancellation of the memorandum signed with the United States.

“The document contains an obligation on the other side to guarantee the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon. This means that the occupying forces must leave Lebanese soil. We are talking about ending the war, but it will not end as long as the Zionist enemy remains there,” he said.

The official was asked whether the memorandum meant the end of the conflict between the “axis of resistance” and Israel. “Israel is not mentioned in the document, and our attitude towards the criminal regime remains the same. The agreement speaks of the end of the war between the United States and its allies, on the one hand, and Iran and their allies, on the other,” Bagai responded.

Meanwhile, the Maan agency quotes an Iranian source familiar with the progress of the negotiations, who said that the “spirit of the agreement” extends to the Gaza Strip: “An escalation in Gaza or Lebanon could undermine the foundations of the agreement. The arenas are interconnected. The criterion is not the signing of the document, but its implementation.”