IRANIAN Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said today that the deal ending his country’s war with the United States also requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon.

The remarks raise questions about the still unpublished agreement and whether disagreement over its terms could prolong the conflict.

Mr Araghchi told diplomats from other countries that Israel’s continued occupation of southern Lebanon would violate the memorandum of understanding reached between the US and Iran.

In comments broadcast on Iranian state television, he said: “The end of the war in Lebanon is an inseparable part of the complete end of the war. 

“Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end.”

Mr Araghchi said further Israeli attacks on Lebanon “will be considered by us a violation of the memorandum of understanding.”

The US has not said whether Lebanon is part of the final agreement, but Mr Araghchi’s description clashes with Israeli officials’ statements about the deal to end the war, which started with illegal and unprovoked air strikes by the US and Israel on February 28.

Israel was not a party to the negotiations or the agreement. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the deal on Monday as US President Donald Trump’s decision, noting that Israel had its own priorities and would remain in a buffer zone in Lebanon for “as long as necessary.”

The discrepancy highlights how much the agreement leaves unresolved ahead of a ceremonial signing in Geneva on Friday.

The unpublished deal provides for the “immediate” opening of the Strait of Hormuz and the lifting of the US blockade of Iran, according to a senior US official.

It includes the possibility of releasing frozen Iranian funds, easing sanctions and creating a $300 billion (£221bn) fund to rebuild the country, all of which would be tied to Iran meeting benchmarks, according to a second senior US official.