Berri praises Tehran's 'insistence' on including a Lebanon cease-fire in any agreement with Washington

BEIRUT — Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri held talks Tuesday with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a day after Donald Trump announced a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel, that has yet to take hold.

Berri and Ghalibaf — one of Iran's lead negotiators — discussed during a phone call the escalating Israeli attacks on Lebanon and “ways to put an end to the aggression,” according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

Berri praised Tehran's “insistence” on making a cease-fire in Lebanon an “essential” point in any negotiated agreement between Iran and the United States to end the war which started on Feb. 28.

Berrii said in an interview with the New York Times that Hezbollah was open to a new "real cease-fire" and believed that only the U.S. president could force Israel to respect it. "No one can achieve a real cease-fire except Donald Trump," the Parliament speaker said. "This is the only way," he added.

"If there is a serious cease-fire, I guarantee that Hezbollah will comply with it," he added, adding that this message came directly from the party. "A separate deal from Iran or with Iran ... doesn't matter. We need a cease-fire. Israel wants to negotiate while bombing, and it costs us dearly."

The announcement made by Donald Trump on Monday evening of a halt in hostilities reportedly agreed to by Hezbollah and Israel came after Tehran escalated its rhetoric and raised the possibility of opening "new fronts" if Beirut’s southern suburbs were attacked. Earlier in the day, the Israeli army had issued evacuation orders for the area.

Meanwhile, as Trump claimed to have "spoken with Hezbollah" to secure the group's commitment to the truce, Hezbollah MP Ihab Hamadeh told Russia's Sputnik radio that "Hezbollah communicates with no one except the Iranians," who, according to him, in turn "communicate daily with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri."

According to Hamadeh, the suspension of potential Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs was the result of "Iranian pressure" and the mobilization of the "unity of the fronts."