Mike Baker

New reporting from NBC News cites a senior administration official who says Trump didn't just make a general appeal.

He personally called Netanyahu, urging him to be a, quote, helpful partner as negotiations with Iran supposedly are set to move forward.

And for a while, it looked like the president's request had landed.

On Wednesday, Vice President J.D.

Vance told reporters that Israel had agreed to, quote, check itself in Lebanon.

That must be a technical term, suggesting there was at least some alignment with Washington's approach.

Now, on paper, well, that sounds promising.

The U.S.

pushes for restraint in order to placate Iran.

Israel signals cooperation and negotiations with Iran perhaps move ahead.

But within hours of Vance's statement, Israel launched the largest bombing campaign in Lebanon since the start of this war.

Over the course of roughly 10 minutes, more than 100 targets were hit.

Lebanese civil defense officials say over 300 people were killed and more than 1,100 wounded, with the toll still expected to rise.

Now, Israel says these strikes were aimed at Hezbollah's command and control centers, part of what it's calling Operation Eternal Darkness, an effort to dismantle what remains of the Iran-backed terror group's military infrastructure.

And from Israel's perspective, the logic here hasn't changed.

Both Washington and Jerusalem maintain that Hezbollah is not covered under the ceasefire with Iran.

In other words, from Israel's view, this is a completely separate fight, and one that they intend to keep pursuing.

But the Iranian regime and Pakistani mediators say Lebanon has to be part of any real de-escalation, and increasingly, European leaders are lining up behind that argument, warning that the ceasefire may not survive if Lebanon stays outside the deal.

Now, not to state the obvious, but Iran, already declaring victory, believes that as long as it controls the Strait, the U.S.

and Europe will make various concessions, which explains why they are pushing their various demands.