US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday night that he has ordered his administration to allow all US airlines to operate direct flights to Lebanon, in a move designed to make it easier for US citizens seeking to visit the country. The announcement was made shortly after his meeting at the White House with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.
In his message, Trump wrote: “After meeting with the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, who has done a remarkable job working to transform his Country, I am hereby directing my Administration to allow all U.S. airline carriers to fly directly to Lebanon so that Americans can easily visit this beautiful land. Hopefully, other Countries will do the same. Enjoy!”
The meeting between the two was the first by a Lebanese president at the White House in 17 years, and took place against the backdrop of security developments on the Israel-Lebanon border, less than a day after the start of the pilot in which the IDF withdrew from areas in southern Lebanon and the Lebanese army entered them.
During the meeting, Trump made a series of statements on regional issues. He emphasized that the United States does not intend to stop the pressure on Iran and said: “If we leave the fighting with Iran now, it will take them 20-25 years to recover. We are not done yet; we are not ready to leave at this stage. Any nuclear facility that the Iranians might consider restarting, we will hit it again.” According to him, Tehran is “desperate” to resume talks with Washington, but the United States will not agree to talks without significant steps from the Iranian regime.
The issue of Hezbollah also came up at the meeting. Trump said that he had no objection in principle to holding talks with the organization, as he was willing to talk to any party, but made it clear that the United States “has well-constructed plans” for dealing with Hezbollah. The president also referred to the Abraham Accords and estimated that the regional peace circle is expected to expand. “The Abraham Accords were a tremendous success. Very soon you will see many countries joining,” he said, adding that “Lebanon has a very important place,” a hint that could be interpreted as a possibility of its future integration into a broader regional movement.