Al Jazeera reports that a draft peace proposal would see Iran fully restore commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days. This would also require the US to lift the blockade and remove its navy. Hopes also rose after the Revolutionary Guard said return to war is unlikely because of the enemy’s weakness.
In the US, President Trump has convened his cabinet and is reportedly under pressure from his own base and the Democrats to end the Iran war. The question is can the war be concluded to the satisfaction of the US.
Whichever way that goes, Israel has intensified its attacks on Lebanon with the population of the city of Tyre under evacuation orders. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah infra in Tyre but ground reports say homes of civilians, hospitals and medical centres are being hit. Remember that Tyre is the biggest population centre in south Lebanon.
Media reports say Israel has ordered the 80,000 residents of the city of Nabatieh, also in south Lebanon to leave the city and move north of the Zahrani River.
There are growing fears that Israel will target the capital Beirut and its suburbs in a bid to contain Hezbollah drone attacks. The US has apparently told them not to, concerned that would derail the peace talks with Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier confirmed the military was “deepening” operations in Lebanon and “fortifying” what he described as a “security zone” there.
But as speculation about a peace deal builds, the sense among diplomats is that Netanyahu’s influence has perhaps sunk to its lowest point with the Trump administration. He is seen as the man whose erroneous assumptions about Iran’s vunlerabilities led the US into this quagmire.
This is not to say Israel’s value for the US goes. In the event of a peace deal, Trump may need the muscle of the Jewish state and the craft of its prime minister to see him through the inevitable challenges ahead.
