From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Rubio: Lebanon is part of Iran talks only due to Tehran’s support for Hezbollah
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is pressed on the apparent dissonance in the Trump administration’s policy regarding Iran, given that it agreed to an MOU last week that included Lebanon in the ceasefire reached with Iran after creating a separate track of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon specifically in order to prevent Tehran from having a say in what happens in Beirut.
Speaking to reporters after landing in Abu Dhabi, Rubio insists that the Lebanon file is separate from the Iranian one.
“There’s an Iranian issue with regard to Lebanon, and that is their support and sponsorship of Hezbollah, and so that factor will be discussed as part of our conversations with the Iranians,” he says.
“But as far as the future of Lebanon, the future of Lebanon belongs to the Lebanese people through their sovereign elected government, and that’s who we’re going to be working with,” Rubio adds.
Rubio is beginning a Mideast tour with stops in the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain. He says he is mainly there to listen to allies and receive their perspective on the ongoing negotiations with Iran.
The top US diplomat is also asked how he’s trying to ease concerns in the region over the MOU’s ignoring of Iran’s missile program and support for proxies.
Rubio acknowledges that those issues will come up during his meetings this week in the Gulf. However, he insists that they are actually covered by the MOU because the agreement talks about “an end of hostilities in the entire region.”
“You can’t have the end of hostilities and conflicts in the region as long as Iranian proxies are launching missiles and drones from Iraq and are participating in terrorism like Hamas did and like Hezbollah did,” Rubio says.
“So I do think it’s covered by the MOU, and it is an issue that will be gotten to at the appropriate time in these negotiations,” he adds.
It’s not clear, however, the extent to which US President Donald Trump agrees with Rubio, given that he insisted last week that Iran should be allowed to keep some of its missiles because other countries in the region also have them.
The Times of Israel Community.