ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening (June 15) said that he will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon and that Israel will stay in the buffer zone in southern Lebanon "to protect the residents of the north".
Earlier on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said a preliminary agreement to end the war in the Gulf has already been signed by the United States and Iran, though details have yet to be made public.
The deal is the most significant step yet to resolve the conflict, which has killed at least 7,000 people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, and upended global energy markets.
But much about the agreement remains unknown.
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Iran would have to satisfy U.S. demands never to build a nuclear weapon and cut off support for proxy militias like Hezbollah in order to get those benefits.
Trump appears to have achieved little of what he set out to do when he launched strikes on Iran with Israel on February 28.
Iran has said the deal requires a full cessation of hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah armed fighters that it's backing, but Netanyahu said that Israel would keep its forces in southern Lebanon and would retain the right to respond to Hezbollah attacks.
A U.S. official said Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon was not a condition of the deal.
Netanyahu also referred to rumours that he may not run in Israel's next election that is expected to take place in September or October but a date has yet to be set.
