The announcement of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding to end military confrontation across the Middle East was met with immediate defiance from Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, who declared on Monday that the agreement does not bind the Jewish state. Brokered by Pakistan and due to be signed in Geneva on Friday, the deal aims to halt hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon, where three months of war between Israel and Hezbollah have killed thousands and displaced 1.2 million people. Ben Gvir, in the first official Israeli reaction, insisted that Israel would not withdraw from captured territory and must continue its campaign until Hezbollah is dismantled, calling the agreement a threat to national security.

Viewed from Tehran, the memorandum represents a diplomatic victory forged through steadfastness. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei stressed that Lebanon is an integral part of the understanding, mentioned three times in the draft text, and that Iran would “monitor closely” and use all necessary means to ensure compliance. Hezbollah issued a statement welcoming the deal as a “major breakthrough” and thanking Iran’s leadership and people for their sacrifices, while warning Israel that any further violation of Lebanese sovereignty would be met with resistance. The group notably refrained from claiming new attacks on Monday.

In Beirut, the mood was a mixture of relief and uncertainty. President Joseph Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri both hailed the inclusion of Lebanon in the memorandum, with Berri highlighting a “fundamental and binding clause” calling for an end to Israeli aggression. Yet an official source told Agence France-Presse that Lebanon had not been informed of the terms or the timing of the ceasefire. Despite warnings from authorities, displaced families began streaming back towards southern villages, their cars laden with mattresses and suitcases, even as intermittent artillery shelling was reported but no airstrikes.

The path from memorandum to durable calm remains fraught. Israeli ministers’ rejection exposes a gap between the diplomatic framework and military realities on the ground, where Israeli forces hold territory in southern Lebanon. Regional mediators—Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt—helped secure the agreement, but without Israeli buy-in, the ceasefire’s implementation in Lebanon hangs in the balance. As Geneva prepares to host the signing, the coming days will test whether the deal can translate into a genuine cessation of hostilities or whether it will become another diplomatic placeholder, leaving Lebanon caught between great-power understandings and local intransigence.