Meloni cancels the military agreement with Israel and Macron calls Trump

On Tuesday morning, the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, announced that she was suspending the automatic renewal of military training agreement that his country maintains with Israel, citing the open conflicts in the Middle East.

Meloni’s decision derives from the attacks with Israeli fire suffered by Italian soldiers collaborating in the peace mission in Lebanon. It was taken together with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense, Antonio Tajani and Guido Crosetto, as sources explain to Reuters.

In parallel, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, has held telephone conversations with both the American President, Donald Trump, and the Iranian, Masud Pezeshkian.

Macron has urged them to “resume negotiations interrupted in Islamabadto clarify misunderstandings and avoid new phases of escalation.” However, he clarifies that it is “essential” that the ceasefire be respected “strictly” and that also includes Lebanon.

The president has considered it a priority reopen the Strait of Hormuz “unconditionally, without controls or tolls, in the shortest possible time“. To this end, France and the United Kingdom will convene “non-belligerent” countries to a “purely defensive” multilateral mission.

This coalition, whose final list of members has not yet been made public, will aim to “restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz” when “the security conditions allow“.

Macron himself and the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, will co-chair from Paris the meeting five days after US President Donald Trump announced that the United States was taking control of the Strait of Hormuz.

“Hezbollah is the problem”

The Israeli ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, and his Lebanese counterpart, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, will meet in Washington six weeks after the start of Israel’s military operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Shiite militia entered combat with Israel on March 2, two days after the start of Operation ‘Epic Fury’ against Iran, as a measure of support for Tehran. To date, Israeli bombings have left more than 2,000 dead in Lebanon.

The Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saarstated a few hours before the start of direct talks that his country wants to “achieve peace and normalization” with the neighboring country. According to him, the problem of both is Hezbollah.

“Israel and Lebanon do not have major disputes between themselves. The problem is Hezbollah,” Saar said during a press conference in Jerusalem, recalling that the Lebanese Government committed to dismantling these militias.

“We can talk about the terms of a framework agreement for the future, but let us remember that the problem for Israel’s security is the problem for Lebanon’s sovereignty: Hezbollah,” he insisted. “We want to achieve peace and normalization,” he added.

The Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, will be part of the conversations between the ambassadors. Israel and Lebanon do not maintain formal diplomatic relations, and have been technically at war since Israel’s founding in 1948.

In 2022, under the auspices of the United States, they reached a bilateral agreement to establish a maritime border between both countries. In December 2025 they met again to advance the plan that ended the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah confrontation.

The Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, considered this Monday that his country and Israel have the possibility of achieving a “sustainable exit” to the conflict, but warned that both will have to make concessions.

“There is now an opportunity to reach a sustainable solution, which is what Lebanon wants, but this cannot be unilateral. “Israel must respond to Lebanese, Arab and international calls to cease its attacks on Lebanon and begin negotiations.”