
Vance says US 'never once' said Lebanon was part of ceasefire deal
Vice President J.D. Vance said that the United States has "never once" said that Lebanon was part of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal as Israel launched on Wednesday a barrage of attacks on the country.
"Look, if Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them, and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire ... that's ultimately their choice. We think that would be dumb, but that's their choice," Vance said, speaking to reporters in Hungary.
"Neither us nor the Israelis said that that was going to be part of the ceasefire," Vance said later.
Vance said that any confusion about whether Lebanon was included in the ceasefire proposal comes from "a legitimate misunderstanding" from all sides.
"I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it just didn't. We never made that promise," Vance said. "We never indicated that was going to be the case. What we said is that the ceasefire would be focused on Iran, and the ceasefire would be focused on America's allies, both Israel and the Gulf Arab states."
Vance also repeated his claim that ceasefires are "messy," but that the White House has been clear to allies that bombing should stop.
"What we have been very clear about is that we want to stop the bombing. We want our allies to stop the bombing, and with the Iranians to do the same thing. We're seeing evidence that things are going in the right direction, but it's going to take a little time," Vance said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also said on Wednesday that Lebanon was not part of any ceasefire agreement.






