ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq –Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem on Sunday praised Tehran’s emphasis on Lebanon in its negotiations with the US, adding that US President Donald Trump can stop Israeli attacks on Lebanon if he wanted. 

An end to Israel’s operations in Lebanon has been one of Iran’s key demands in its negotiations with the US, with the issue having been mentioned in Article One of a recent 14-point memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington.

Speaking at a central Ashura gathering in Lebanon, Qassem praised Iran for prioritizing Lebanon during the recent conflict, saying Tehran had placed “stopping the aggression against Lebanon and defending it” at the top of its agenda.

Israel’s war against Iran was aimed at “ending the head of the resistance in the Arab world,” Qassem said, arguing that the campaign had failed to achieve its objectives.

“Iran emerged stronger with enormous and great sacrifices,” Qassem said. “There was a project to end Hezbollah and the resistance in the region, and this project has fallen.”

Top delegations from the US and Iran launched face to face negotiations in Switzerland on Sunday, with Iranian state-affiliated media saying that the Iranians had spent the first 80 minutes of the talks on Lebanon, before leaving the negotiations in protest of a threat made by Trump earlier in the day.

Trump on Sunday threatened to take renewed military action against Iran unless it reins in Hezbollah, amid peace negotiations in Switzerland between the two countries.

In a post on Truth Social, the US president said that Iran must “immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble.”

Hostilities have continued between Israel and Hezbollah, despite the US-Iran MoU stipulating an end to the war on all fronts by both Iran, the US, and their allies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel will not withdraw from southern Lebanon until its security objectives are achieved.

Qassem rejected any arrangement that would allow Israel freedom of action while a ceasefire remained in place, saying, “a ceasefire with freedom of action for Israel is a continuation of the aggression, and we will not accept it.”

He said US support had enabled Israel’s military actions and argued that US President Donald Trump had the power to stop them.

The Hezbollah leader said that if Trump decides to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “he will stand up ‘whether he likes it or not’ and will not dare oppose the American position.”