President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that he would be willing to hold direct talks with Hezbollah, telling reporters he would not rule out engaging with the Iran-backed terrorist organization if Lebanese President Joseph Aoun asked him to do so.
The two leaders met at the White House — the first visit by a Lebanese head of state in nearly 20 years — where they discussed security cooperation and strategies to reduce Hezbollah’s grip on Lebanon.
When asked whether he would sit down with Hezbollah’s leadership, Trump was straightforward in his response. “I would speak to Hezbollah. I speak to everybody. I’ll speak to people that a lot of people think I shouldn’t be speaking to, and things work out,” Trump said from the Oval Office.
He went further, adding: “If the president wanted me to speak to Hezbollah, I would.”
The discussions touched on proposals to disarm Hezbollah and create what were described as “pilot zones” — areas entirely free of the group’s presence — that would then be patrolled by the Lebanese Armed Forces.
Trump stopped short of confirming whether the United States would play a direct role in any disarmament effort. “We have some very concrete plans already in store for that. Others [may be] going in and helping, but [Lebanon is] also becoming much more self-sufficient,” he said.
After the meeting wrapped up, Trump took to Truth Social to announce a major policy shift: he had directed his administration to allow direct commercial air travel between the United States and Lebanon to resume, ending a ban that has been in place for more than 40 years.
In that post, Trump praised Aoun, saying he “has done a remarkable job working to transform his country,” and expressed hope that other nations would follow the United States in restoring direct flights to what he called “this beautiful land.”
