Lebanese President Joseph Aoun arrived in Washington on Sunday carrying a written proposal for disarming Hezbollah and securing a phased Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, ahead of talks with President Donald Trump on Tuesday. The initiative, described by an official in Beirut as a plan to “dismantle Hezbollah’s massive arsenal,” marks the first visit by a Lebanese head of state to the White House in roughly two decades and follows a framework agreement brokered by Washington in late June that outlines a path toward normalisation and the restoration of Lebanese sovereignty.

Viewed from Beirut’s political establishment, Aoun’s core demands include US-funded training for an elite army unit, advanced surveillance drones to curb cross-border smuggling, urgent financial backing for reconstruction and military salaries, and diplomatic pressure on Israel to complete its withdrawal. In return, according to diplomatic readouts from the capital, the Trump administration expects a detailed, time-bound security plan for dismantling the Shiite movement’s military infrastructure, an irreversible strategic commitment to peace with Israel, and a credible local security alternative that forecloses any role for Syrian forces or renewed regional patronage from Tehran.

Washington’s scepticism is rooted in the collapse of an earlier post-war arrangement in late 2025, when the Lebanese army declared operational control south of the Litani River only for Israeli strikes to expose intact Hezbollah bunkers and missile depots. US officials, according to diplomatic sources, remain unconvinced that Beirut can enforce a monopoly on force, especially after the army chief cautioned against any mission that would risk civil strife. Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s leadership has dismissed the framework as “null and void” and insisted on maintaining its armed “resistance,” while the parliamentary speaker, Nabih Berri, warned it could divide the nation. Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, has stated that peace hinges on ending Iranian influence and dismantling Hezbollah’s military capacity.

Aoun’s team views Trump as the only foreign leader with sufficient leverage to press Israel into a full withdrawal and to rally international reconstruction support, an assessment amplified in the Lebanese press. The president will first meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday before the Oval Office encounter, with parallel consultations expected with senators and administration officials. The outcome is likely to determine whether the July framework advances through a series of trial zones in the south, or whether mutual mistrust stalls the most ambitious effort yet to separate the Lebanese state from the military orbit of Iran.