Israeli defence minister Israel Katz declared the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would remain in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza "for an unlimited period of time", speaking on 14 June 2026.1 National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the US-Iran deal "does not bind us" and that Israel is "not party to this agreement."2 Both spoke on the day the deal was announced, placing Israel outside an agreement Washington had brokered without it.
Iran and Pakistan both insist the ceasefire covers Lebanon, and Iran's deputy foreign minister said the war ends "on all fronts, including Lebanon."3 That clause rests on an IDF withdrawal Katz has just refused. The Lebanon faultline is not new: it broke the bilateral halt agreed on 9 June, which Israel confirmed excluded Lebanon from the start. Katz has moved the position from "no withdrawal" to "unlimited period" across three theatres, turning a negotiating stance into a standing veto over a deal he was never asked to sign.
Israeli strikes on Beirut forced the planned 14 June electronic signing to slip to an in-person ceremony on Friday 19 June in Europe.4 Donald Trump, who had spent the war warning Tehran and had already rebuked Benjamin Netanyahu publicly over the 9 June Karun strike, turned the criticism on his ally again: he called Netanyahu "a very difficult guy" and said the Beirut strikes nearly derailed the deal.5 Because Israel is not a signatory, the US-Iran text has no mechanism to compel it. Hezbollah's own ceasefire, tied to an IDF pullback from southern Lebanon, has no trigger while the army stays put.
