Netanyahu says Israel to continue occupying territory in southern Lebanon despite Iran-US deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday Israel will continue occupying territory in southern Lebanon despite a US-Iran agreement aimed at ending the conflict between Washington and Tehran.

In his first public comments on the memorandum of understanding reached between the US and Iran, Netanyahu said Israel will continue to keep troops in what he called a "security zone" as long as necessary.

"We have established strengthened security zones around Israel. We did this in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, and we will remain in these security zones as long as necessary to protect our country," he told a press conference.

"Regarding Lebanon, we established a buffer zone, a security zone, and we will remain there for as long as necessary," he added.

Netanyahu claimed that Iran had sought an Israeli withdrawal from those areas, but "that did not happen," adding that he believed "our American friends respect that."

He also said Israel was still unaware of the precise terms of the memorandum reached between Washington and Tehran.

"We do not yet know what the agreement between Washington and Tehran will look like," Netanyahu said.

The Israeli premier claimed that the removal of the Iranian regime was not one of the goals of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

"I did not say that one of the goals of the operation was to overthrow the regime," he said, alleging that the objective was "to create conditions" that could lead to its ouster.

On Sunday, the US and Iran, with Pakistani mediation, announced that they had reached a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict that began after US and Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. The deal is set to be signed in Switzerland on Friday.

The memorandum is expected to formalize a ceasefire and launch a 60-day period of technical negotiations between Washington and Tehran on implementing its provisions.