Report: Netanyahu ‘in panic’ over new US-Iran Lebanon oversight mechanism; US official denies Israel excluded

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “panicking” over a new Lebanon deconfliction mechanism emerging from yesterday’s US-Iran talks in Switzerland that could limit Israel’s freedom of action and remove it from the oversight framework. He has launched diplomatic efforts to protect Israel’s interests, Channel 12 reports, citing a senior Israeli official.

US Vice President JD Vance said earlier today that a new “deconfliction mechanism” was established during yesterday’s talks in Burgenstock. According to an earlier Channel 12 report, the new arrangement would replace the one brokered in 2024 under the Biden administration, which comprised Israel, Lebanon, the US, France, and the UN, with a new body made up of the US, Iran, Lebanon, Qatar, and Pakistan.

In this evening’s report, a senior American official denies to the network that Israel is excluded from the mechanism, stressing that, given Washington and Jerusalem’s close ties, a direct US-Iran channel will only benefit Israel. It is unclear whether the official means Israel will have a formal role in the mechanism or whether its interests will be represented indirectly through coordination with Washington.

While the 2024 framework aimed to coordinate between Israel and Lebanon on efforts to collect and remove Hezbollah weapons, the current arrangement is mainly focused on preventing friction between the IDF and Hezbollah, Channel 12 adds.

According to the Hebrew network, the Lebanon file has become Netanyahu’s chief concern regarding the US-Iran negotiations, and he has enlisted former strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer to engage Washington on the matter, believing no other Israeli official — including Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter — is currently able to do so effectively.

Senior US officials spoke with Dermer several times from Switzerland during negotiations and kept him updated on developments, particularly regarding Lebanon, the report continues, adding that US President Donald Trump’s post on Truth Social yesterday, in which he warned Iran that if it failed to restrain Hezbollah, he would resort to military action, was the result of an intervention by Dermer.