Ex-al Qaida member and former British Secret Intelligence Service agent Aiman Dean claimed that the US-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is being used as leverage against Iran in a post on X/Twitter on Thursday.
“For days now, Tehran has been hiding behind the same excuse: no serious engagement, no movement on the nuclear talks, no opening of the Strait of Hormuz, until there’s a ceasefire in Lebanon,” Dean explained.
He posited that US President Donald Trump’s reasoning for pushing the ceasefire “wasn’t really about Lebanon at all,” asserting that it was actually about Iran.
He continued to state that it would explain why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to halt the fight against Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group.
Netanyahu agreed to the ceasefire “not out of goodwill, but to call the Iranian regime’s bluff, and to buy time for more military assets and supplies to reach the region,” Dean claimed.
He added that if a ceasefire in Lebanon was the real obstacle in the way of Iran reaching a deal with the US, “then Iran has no more cover” when it comes to avoiding an agreement.
“They either open Hormuz and engage seriously, or they expose the fact that Lebanon was never the real issue to begin with,” Dean said.
Dean criticized closure of Strait of Hormuz 'for sake of a terrorist organization'
In a separate post on Thursday, Dean harshly criticized Iranian leadership for keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed for the sake of a terrorist organization.
“For Hezbollah - a bloody terror group drenched in the blood of Americans, Lebanese, Syrians, Yemenis, Saudis, and even Iranians, you were willing to choke off one of the world’s most critical waterways, something you have no legal right to shut in the first place,” Dean asserted.
Iran’s decision to do so tells the world everything about its priorities, he concluded. “ Not your own people… Not for regional stability. Not because of international law. No, it was just due to loyalty to a terror proxy that thrives on chaos and bloodshed.”