Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to withdraw troops from Lebanon despite a US-Iran agreement
US Vice President J.D. Vance has criticized Israeli hardliners opposed to President Donald Trump’s Iran deal, warning that the country cannot “kill” its way out of every security problem.
Vance’s comments came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to withdraw troops from the country’s northern neighbor, despite a newly signed US-Iran memorandum of understanding that calls for an end to hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon.
“What is your exact proposal?” Vance told the New York Times on Thursday, responding to Israeli hardliners critical of the agreement. “You’re a country of nine million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.”
WATCH: JD Vance blasts Ben-Gvir and Smotrich:
You’ve seen people in their system, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, who’ve attacked the deal.
And I guess my response to them would be: What is your exact proposal?
You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t just kill your way out of… pic.twitter.com/S1V2bEwGBX
— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 18, 2026
Vance urged Israel to give diplomacy a chance and show “a little bit of credit” to Washington, and warned Israeli officials against publicly attacking Trump over the deal, saying the US president remains one of Israel’s few reliable supporters.
The IDF is deployed in the Security Zone, ~10 km inside Lebanese territory, due to operational requirements.
IDF soldiers will continue to remove threats and strengthen the defense of Israel’s northern residents. pic.twitter.com/jQQPCSAeIe
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 18, 2026
Netanyahu, however, has insisted that Israeli troops will remain in southern Lebanon for as long as Israel deems necessary. “We will restore security to the north,” he said on Thursday, arguing that this required maintaining a “security strip” in southern Lebanon.
Shortly before Netanyahu’s remarks, the IDF published a new map showing an occupied area extending roughly 10km into Lebanese territory. Defense Minister Israel Katz previously said Israeli forces would remain in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza for as long as necessary.
The stance puts Netanyahu at odds with the US-Iran memorandum, which reportedly calls for an immediate and permanent end to military operations on all fronts and includes explicit language on respecting Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Iranian officials have warned that continued Israeli attacks or occupation in Lebanon would be viewed as a violation of Washington’s commitments under the memorandum.
“If the Israeli regime’s attacks on Lebanon continue, it will be considered a violation of the other party’s commitments under the memorandum of understanding,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said, insisting that Tehran does not separate the US from Israel when it comes to implementing the agreement.
Trump himself has recently criticized Israel’s approach to Lebanon, including in heated phone calls with Netanyahu, while maintaining support for Israel more broadly.
“You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they’re not all Hezbollah,” Trump said earlier this week.
