Netanyahu declares victory over Iran

Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed a historic victory over Iran and ruled out any immediate withdrawal from Lebanon, saying that Israel’s forces would remain there “for as long as necessary”, the Guardian reported.

“We established deep security zones around the state of Israel. We did this in Gaza, in Lebanon and in Syria,” the Israeli prime minister said in a televised press conference on Monday. “And I want to make it clear: we will remain in these security zones … to protect our country.”

The new preliminary agreement between Washington and Tehran has prompted dismay and anger in Israel, with widespread criticism of Netanyahu’s leadership.

He claimed on Monday that the joint US-Israeli military campaign against Iran had spared his country from what he described as “nuclear annihilation”.

“And what would that mean? It would mean that millions of Israeli citizens … would have been in terrible danger of mass death … and we have pushed away from us, for years, this danger of the annihilation of Israel’s population.”

The exact details of the interim deal remain unclear, but appear to explicitly include a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel launched a wide-ranging offensive after attacks on northern Israel by Hezbollah at the beginning of the 15-week-long conflict.

US officials have sought to reassure Israel, saying on Monday that the ⁠withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon ⁠was ⁠not a ​condition of ⁠a pact between the ⁠US ‌and ‌Iran, and Israel would have ​the right to defend ⁠itself against ​attacks ​by ​Hezbollah.

The apparent terms of the agreement still appear to be a major setback for Israel, which fiercely resisted Iranian efforts to link its interim deal with the US to halting Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Headlines in Israeli media described an “abject failure”.

There was relative calm in southern Lebanon on Monday, although sporadic violence persisted as Israeli troops remain in territory they have occupied in ⁠the three-month war, according to Lebanese and foreign security sources.