09 April,2026 10:53 AM IST | Budapest [Hungary] | ANI
US Vice President JD Vance. File Pic
US Vice President JD Vance firmly discarded the claims of Lebanon being a part of the truce talks between Washington and Tehran, as the precarious two-week ceasefire comes into place.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his departure from Hungary, on whether Lebanon was included in the peace proposal, Vance said that the United States never made any such promises. He underlined that the ceasefire was aimed at a focus on Iran, and American allies--both Israel and the Gulf Arab states.
"We never made that promise. We never indicated that was going to be the case. What we said is that the ceasefire would be focused on Iran and the ceasefire would be focused on America's allies, both Israel and the Gulf Arab states."
The remarks by Vance put Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif in a tight spot after he had claimed that Lebanon was also a part of the peace deal--a claim firmly dismissed by both US President Donald Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
The embarrassment to the self-styled mediator's claims comes as a part of the carousel of chaos Islamabad has seen in the last few hours.
Pakistan had attempted to present itself as a peacemaker between the US and Iran, but the new details from a Financial Times report suggest that it was rather pushed by White House to broker the temporary ceasefire with Iran.
The report posed serious questions about Pakistan's independent diplomatic stance as it suggests that Islamabad was not a neutral broker but rather a convenient channel for the US to push the temporary ceasefire deal.
Financial Times, citing the people familiar with the talks, reported that the US leaned on Pakistan to present Washington's proposal to Iran, making the country a mere messenger between the two sides rather than having an active neutral participation.
Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, who was the first one to suggest a two-week ceasefire in public, was reduced to a spectator with Army chief Asim Munir playing a central role, holding urgent discussions with US officials, including Donald Trump, JD Vance and envoy Steve Witkoff.
The blunder from Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif on a social media post, in a rush to claim credit, also exposed limited say over the deal.
Sharif, who framed the deal as Pakistan's initiative, mistakenly included a subject line at the top of his post: "draft -- Pakistan's PM message on X"
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
