Israel y Líbano acuerdan alto el fuego mientras Trump busca paz con Irán

In a conference room at the State Department in Washington, Israeli and Lebanese delegations sat across from each other on Wednesday, June 3rd, trying to salvage a ceasefire that had been fraying for weeks. The two sides, represented by their ambassadors—Yechiel Leiter for Israel and Nada Hamadeh for Lebanon—had already spent seven hours in talks the day before. Now they were back, hoping to produce something concrete. By day's end, they had: a renewed ceasefire agreement, conditional on the Shiite militia Hezbollah halting attacks on Israeli territory and ceasing operations in southern Lebanon. The United States, mediating the talks, helped design a framework for "pilot zones" in Lebanese territory that would be controlled by the Lebanese Army and exclude the militant group. The two countries agreed to reconvene on June 22 for another round of negotiations, also in Washington.

But the agreement came wrapped in contradiction. Even as the delegations negotiated, Israeli forces were ordering the evacuation of six southern Lebanese towns—Jbaa, Houmine El Faouqa, Arki, Arzi, Mazraat Kawthariyat al-Raz, and Zrarieh—and killing at least six people in fresh bombardments. Two paramedics died when an Israeli strike hit their ambulance near Shehour. Near the Jabal Amel hospital in Tyre, at least four people were killed and 127 wounded in strikes on nearby buildings. The toll was mounting: since the Israeli offensive began in March, nearly 160 attacks had struck Lebanese health facilities, killing 129 healthcare workers. Overall, at least 3,423 people had been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, with nearly 10,400 wounded. The ceasefire, it seemed, was less a cessation than a framework for managing an ongoing war.

Meanwhile, in the Persian Gulf, the United States and Iran were conducting their own violent conversation. Early Wednesday morning, Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed they had attacked the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and launched missiles and drones at military targets in the region. The strikes were framed as retaliation for an American attack on an Iranian communications tower on the island of Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's targets were Kuwait and Bahrain—both U.S. allies whose territory hosts American military installations. In Kuwait, at least 63 people were wounded in the Iranian strikes, which hit the international airport and forced the suspension of flights. One person was killed. The U.S. Central Command said the Iranian missiles either were intercepted or missed their targets entirely. Kuwait responded by summoning Iran's charge d'affaires and expelling two Iranian diplomats, reducing the embassy staff.

Trump, watching these developments unfold, offered a contradictory narrative. In an interview on the podcast Pod Force One, he claimed that Iran had already accepted not possessing nuclear weapons—one of the thorniest issues in any potential deal. He said Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was participating in negotiations. He predicted a peace agreement could be reached "this weekend." On the question of Iranian uranium, he said, "We'll get it in the not-too-distant future." Yet Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen that while talks were continuing, there had been no progress. Both sides, he said, were still studying the proposals each had exchanged. The gap between Trump's optimism and Tehran's caution was stark.

Back in Washington, the House of Representatives voted 215 to 208 to pass a resolution limiting Trump's war powers against Iran, requiring congressional authorization for continued hostilities. Four Republicans voted with the Democrats, a sign of fracturing support even within the president's own party. Netanyahu, meanwhile, was pushing back against criticism from European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, who had questioned Israel's military operations in Lebanon. "They know we're protecting them, but they don't have the guts to stand with those of us who will save our civilization from these barbarians," Netanyahu said in an interview with CNBC. When asked about Trump's recent call in which the president had used harsh language about Netanyahu's approach to Lebanon, the Israeli prime minister downplayed the tension. "Like in the best families, sometimes we have tactical disagreements," he said. "We always find a way to resolve them."

The economic consequences were already rippling outward. Oil prices rose for the third consecutive day as tensions in the Gulf reignited. Brent crude climbed 1.6 percent to nearly 98 dollars a barrel. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned that if the Strait of Hormuz remained blocked into 2027, global GDP growth could slow to just 2.1 percent in 2026 and 1.8 percent in 2027—well below the historical norm of over 3 percent. Some economies could slip into recession. European stock markets fell, though Spain's Ibex index bucked the trend, buoyed by strong earnings from the fashion company Inditex. The machinery of war and diplomacy was grinding forward simultaneously, each side claiming progress while bodies accumulated on the ground.