The US President Donald Trump’s initiative to calm down the Lebanon conflict has brought results as he announced a 10-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah that took effect on April 17. The ceasefire may be extended by mutual agreement if negotiations progress, the State Department reported with the concurrence of Beirut and Tel Aviv. 

The agreement was reached following Trump’s talks with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump has announced his intention to invite the two leaders to the White House for “the first substantive talks since 1983.” Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the outcome, emphasising that a ceasefire was a key goal of the US talks. Netanyahu’s response is awaited; he would be figuring out his options.  

Trump acted on Lebanon with an eye on his feverish attempt to intensify the negotiations with Tehran and reach a historic deal, which holds the potential to define his foreign policy legacy. 

An action-reaction syndrome is involved here, as Tehran refused to participate in the negotiations with the US in Islamabad so long as the carnage continued in Lebanon and, secondly, it retaliated by closing the Strait of Hormuz, which has profound implications for the world oil market, a spike in gasoline retail price in the US in particular and indeed the future of petrodollar recycling, etc.  

Apart from Tehran’s expression of profound concern over the suffering of the Shias of Lebanon who constitute roughly one-third of the country’s population (where Muslim sects combined form a majority — approx.........

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