Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on American television Sunday and delivered a blunt message: Iran and its proxy Hezbollah are actively destroying any chance of peace in Lebanon, even as Vice President JD Vance leads a U.S. delegation to Switzerland for high-stakes negotiations with Tehran.
Herzog's appearance on "Fox & Friends Weekend" came just hours after Vance departed Washington, telling reporters he hoped to "make progress" on the issue. But the Israeli president made clear that progress requires confronting a reality Western diplomats have spent years tiptoeing around: Hezbollah has no interest in peace, and Iran has no interest in restraining it.
The timing could not be sharper. Within 48 hours of a ceasefire taking effect, Hezbollah resumed firing missiles and drones at Israel. Iran, meanwhile, announced plans to re-close the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical oil chokepoints, citing, in part, what its consulate in India called on social media "the continuous violations of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon."
Read that again. Iran is blaming ceasefire violations to justify shutting down global energy transit, while its own proxy is the one violating the ceasefire.
Herzog did not hold back about who bears responsibility for the collapse of the ceasefire. As he told Fox News:
"They keep on violating [the ceasefire] through their terror proxy called Hezbollah, which is a terror organization [armed to its neck by Iran], and that's the issue."
He then widened the lens, posing a question that should haunt every diplomat sitting at the table in Switzerland:
"I tell the whole world, how the hell do you want to get to peace between Israel and Lebanon when you have Hezbollah hijacking [Lebanon]? Somebody needs to do the work. Unfortunately, it's our soldiers. I don't see anybody else doing it, unless there will be a diplomatic outcome."
That last line is the one that stings. Israel has been left to enforce a ceasefire that its enemies openly violate, while the international community debates process.
Herzog also framed Hezbollah's disarmament as the non-negotiable condition for any real diplomatic solution, calling it "the whole crux of the strategic and tactical debate that's going on around Lebanon these days." Without disarmament, any agreement is a piece of paper that Hezbollah will shred the moment it suits Tehran's interests.
Vice President Vance's mission to Switzerland was already complicated before Herzog's interview aired. The talks represent the first direct U.S.-Iran engagement since the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, and Breitbart reported the sessions had already been delayed from Friday due to escalating violence in Lebanon.
Vance defended the negotiations on Fox & Friends, saying "The United States wins either way" and that the outcome is "very much up to the Iranians." He has projected confidence, but the obstacles are real and growing by the hour.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps re-closed the Strait of Hormuz, citing U.S. "bad faith," as the Washington Examiner reported. That move alone represents a direct challenge to American credibility and to the economic stability of every nation that depends on Gulf oil shipments. It is not a negotiating tactic. It is coercion.
Vance has faced questions about whether he is the right person for a mission this volatile. He candidly told reporters, "I got to be honest with you, I don't really understand these things. I've never been a particularly into diplomatic protocols." Critics will seize on that admission. But candor about process is not the same as weakness on substance, and Vance has been coordinating with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff ahead of the talks.
The vice president's political future has drawn scrutiny as his diplomatic portfolio expands. Every outcome in Switzerland will be measured not just against American interests, but against Vance's personal standing.
Complicating matters further, President Trump posted on social media while Vance was en route, warning Iran in characteristically direct terms. AP News reported that Trump wrote: "Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don't, we'll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!"
The Iranian delegation responded by recessing the talks and declaring them in a "difficult phase." Iran's lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, warned: "They would do better to be careful about their statements. Our armed forces are prepared to respond to them in a different manner."
Republican hard-liners within the president's own party have also raised objections, with some comparing the emerging framework unfavorably to the Obama-era nuclear agreement. That criticism adds domestic pressure on Vance at exactly the moment he needs room to maneuver.
The dynamic is unusual. A president applying maximum public pressure while his vice president tries to broker a deal behind closed doors is not a conventional diplomatic playbook. Whether it produces results or produces chaos depends entirely on whether Tehran reads Trump's posts as credible threats or as evidence of internal American disarray.
Vance's office has already seen staff turnover, and the vice president has faced persistent speculation about his role and trajectory. None of that changes the substance of what he is trying to accomplish in Switzerland, but it does shape how both allies and adversaries calculate his leverage.
Step back from the diplomatic theater and the picture is grim. A ceasefire was announced. Within two days, Hezbollah resumed launching missiles and drones at Israel. Iran used the resulting instability as a pretext to threaten global energy supplies. And the international community's response has been to schedule more talks.
Herzog's frustration is not hard to understand. Israel is expected to absorb attacks from an armed group that operates as a state within a state in Lebanon, funded and directed by Tehran. When Israel defends itself, the diplomatic world wrings its hands. When Hezbollah attacks, the diplomatic world schedules a meeting.
The Israeli president was careful to express respect for the American effort. "I want to make clear, it is clear that we have an intimate and good dialogue with the United States of America," he said. "We respect President Trump's efforts, and we are raising legitimate concerns, which need to be discussed properly."
That is diplomatic language for: we appreciate the effort, but the effort alone is not enough. Hezbollah must be disarmed. Iran must face consequences for arming it. And no amount of talks in Switzerland will change the facts on the ground in southern Lebanon if the international community continues to treat Hezbollah as a negotiating partner rather than a terrorist army.
There have been persistent questions about whether Vance's expanding diplomatic role is sustainable given the political headwinds he faces at home. Those questions will only intensify if the Switzerland talks produce nothing concrete while Hezbollah continues firing.
The open questions are significant. Has Iran actually implemented the Strait of Hormuz closure, or merely announced it? What specific terms, if any, emerged from the delayed sessions? Who besides Vance is sitting across from the Iranian delegation? And most importantly: does anyone at the table have the authority or the will to demand Hezbollah's disarmament as a precondition for any deal?
Herzog's interview made one thing unmistakable. Israel sees Hezbollah disarmament not as a wish-list item but as the foundation of any agreement worth signing. Without it, a ceasefire is just a pause between attacks, and a peace deal is just a photo opportunity.
The broader pattern within the administration, from internal political friction to the complex choreography between Trump's public statements and Vance's private diplomacy, suggests that Washington is still working out its own approach even as the clock ticks in Switzerland.
Iran understands deadlines. Iran understands leverage. And Iran understands that a divided negotiating partner is a weak one.
The question is whether anyone in Switzerland has the clarity to say what Herzog said on Sunday morning: you cannot negotiate peace with people who are still shooting.
