(SeaPRwire) –   As the ceasefire comes into force, the absence of a two-week halt to hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah appears to be a dealbreaker for Iran’s governing regime.

While the Trump administration maintains the agreement does not cover Hezbollah, the Tehran-backed terrorist movement, Iran is threatening to use this exclusion as leverage to pressure the U.S., a move that could cause the entire ceasefire to collapse.

On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi posted on X that “The Iran–U.S. Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the U.S. must choose—ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both. The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”

His remarks were later echoed by Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who referenced Israeli attacks in Lebanon as justification. Earlier that same day, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key go-between for ceasefire talks between the U.S. and Iran related to Operation Epic Fury, stated the two-week ceasefire would extend to Lebanon.

Hezbollah broke a U.S.-negotiated November 2024 ceasefire when it entered the conflict against Israel in March 2025 to support Iran. Many experts note that long-term regional security is dependent on the Lebanese government and military disarming the terrorist group.

Edy Cohen, a Lebanon-born Israeli security expert specializing in Hezbollah, told Digital that “Hezbollah will never disarm itself. From its perspective, it protects two million Shiites. The only way to defeat Hezbollah is to first define it as a terrorist organization. Not to allow its political wing to exist and also to order the Lebanese army to gather in the areas under its control area by area.”

He went on to add that “Dismantling Hezbollah must be carried out in stages. The Lebanese government must first take possession of the heavy weapons. Not to allow it to concentrate except in Dahiya [a Beirut suburb that is a Hezbollah and Shiite stronghold]. Leave it in one place and control all the roads leading to it. Little by little, it can be dismantled. Israel cannot and should not disarm Hezbollah. It can only assist with bombing from above.”

On Wednesday, the IDF announced it had struck more than 100 targets over a 10-minute window, including “Hezbollah headquarters, military arrays, and command-and-control centers: Intelligence command centers and central headquarters used by Hezbollah terrorists for directing and planning terror attacks against IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians.” Reuters, citing the Lebanese health ministry, reported that roughly 91 people were killed in Beirut, with a total of at least 182 fatalities across the country on Wednesday.

The IDF further stated, “The large-scale strike was based on precise IDF intelligence and was planned meticulously over weeks. Most of the infrastructure that was struck was located within the heart of the civilian population, as part of Hezbollah’s cynical exploitation of Lebanese civilians as human shields in order to safeguard its operations. Prior to the strikes, steps were taken to mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals as much as possible.”

According to the Associated Press, Israeli airstrikes had killed more than 1,530 people in Lebanon between the start of the war and the attacks that took place on Wednesday. The Long War Journal notes “that neither the Lebanese Health Ministry nor Hezbollah has provided an official count of the group’s fallen fighters.”

Guila Fakhoury, whose father Amer was abducted by Hezbollah in 2019, told Digital that “Iran and the IRGC are occupying Lebanon through their proxy Hezbollah.” 

The Lebanon-born Fakhoury stated, “The majority of Lebanese people believe the actions of Hezbollah caused Israel to occupy southern Lebanon and don’t want Iran and Hezbollah. Hezbollah is threatening the entire government.”

As president and co-founder of the Amer Foundation, an organization focused on supporting families of people held in illegal detention and raising public awareness of Middle East policy and geopolitics, she said she has observed a number of positive steps being taken, including Lebanese President Joseph Aoun calling for negotiations with Israel.

She noted that the “only solution is to have peace with Israel. I think there a lot of Shiites who are against Hezbollah… The majority of the Lebanese people just want peace. We hope the Trump administration will push the Lebanese government and Israel’s government to start peace talks.”

Last week, Iran’s regime defied Lebanon’s order expelling its ambassador, announcing the diplomat would remain in the country, further stoking tensions in a nation caught in the crossfire of the latest fighting between Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel.

Lebanon had previously declared Ambassador Mohammad Reza Shibani “persona non grata” in an effort to reduce Iran’s diplomatic presence in the country and replace the ambassador with a chargé d’affaires at the embassy. The deadline for the diplomat to leave the country passed on Sunday, but an Iranian spokesperson confirmed the ambassador’s mission in Beirut is still ongoing.

Digital has reached out to the Lebanese government and the country’s embassy in Washington D.C. for comment.

This report includes contributions from the Associated Press and Reuters.