Vice President JD Vance accused Iran of jeopardizing peace negotiations over Israel\u2019s continued bombardment of Lebanon, insisting that the current cease-fire agreement with the United States had never included Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters in Budapest, after meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary in an effort to boost the right-wing nationalist<\/a> ahead of a coming election, Mr. Vance downplayed Israel\u2019s continued strikes on the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, saying that the strikes in Lebanon had \u201cnothing to do with\u201d Iran, and denied that Lebanon was part of the cease-fire agreement. Lebanon\u2019s health ministry said that 182 people had been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the Iranians thought that the cease-fire included Lebanon, and it just didn\u2019t,\u201d Mr. Vance said. \u201cWe never made that promise. We never indicated that was going to be the case. What we said is that the cease-fire would be focused on Iran and the cease-fire would be focused on America\u2019s allies.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cIf Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart, in a conflict where they were getting hammered, over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them, and which the United States never once said was part of the cease-fire, that\u2019s ultimately their choice. We think that would be dumb, but that\u2019s their choice.\u201d<\/p>\n The vice president plans to travel to Pakistan for peace talks this weekend, beginning Saturday morning. Steve Witkoff, the president\u2019s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, President Trump\u2019s son-in-law, are expected to accompany Mr. Vance, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n