US special envoys to meet ceasefire mediators in Qatar

The ceasefire between Iran and the US proves increasingly tenuous with US President Donald Trump's special envoys to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, currently planning meetings with mediators in Qatar about an initial deal to end the war.

Tehran says it will send a delegation to the gulf nation, but stressed it does not intend to meet with their American counterparts.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, emphasising their presence in the region until "the threat is eliminated."

This as Iran says it will set up a joint committee with the US and Lebanon to oversee an end to the war in the latter.

It has been 123 days since the US and Israel launched attacks against Iran, but the recent implementation of a ceasefire between the warring parties seemed to have trouble holding up.

Amid increasing crossfire and ceasefire violations, US President Donald Trump sent special envoys to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner to the gulf nation of Qatar to hold talks with relevant mediators.

Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry says the US delegation will not directly negotiate with their Iranian counterparts and instead use mediators as go-betweens.

The gesture was mutual as Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei says the Iranian delegation set to arrive in Qatar does not intend to meet the US party.

While direct attacks on the Iranian mainland have relatively cooled, the conflict's theatre in southern Lebanon continues to see Israeli occupation of the Levantine nation's southern frontier.

Addressing troops while visiting the wartorn region, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the established security zones are merely "a change in perception", and urged the military to destroy facilities both above and below ground that served Hezbollah as a means of attack.

He adds Israel will not leave southern Lebanon until the threat is eliminated.

In Iran, the country's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf stresses Tehran is determined to uphold the memorandum of understanding reached by both sides of the war, but notes Iran is prepared for war if the US refuses to make implementations agreed through earlier dialogue.

Qalibaf further says a decision was made for Iran, the US and Lebanon to establish a joint committee to oversee the end of the war in Lebanon and a restoration of the country's sovereignty.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu's grip on power back home may be challenged by the leader of the Yashar party Gadi Eisenkot.

Eisenkot called the October 7th attack a failure that led to a bleeding wound in Israeli society, and called for a profound change in the country's leadership.

Eisenkot, a leading Israeli general who quite Netanyahu's war cabinet after accusing the prime minister of lacking a strategy in Gaza, has emerged as one of the most serious contenders for the nation's leadership.