The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace welcomed the Islamabad Memorandum, signed at Versailles by the presidents of the United States and Iran.
“I commend President Trump and President Pezeshkian for taking the vitally important step of signing a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending hostilities between the United States and Iran and advancing deeper dialogue for lasting peace in the region,” said Maronite Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of Los Angeles. “Preventing further proliferation of nuclear weapons is critically important for avoiding a dangerous escalation of conflict in the Middle East.”
Bishop Zaidan also called for peace in Lebanon:
I call on the United States, Iran, and Israel to now also prioritize an end to the fighting in Lebanon. The disarming of Hezbollah is necessary for peace and development in Lebanon.
Over one million people have been internally displaced, including 400,000 children, and thousands have fled to neighboring Syria, potentially adding to the region’s instability. If the fighting and humanitarian catastrophe continue in Lebanon, I fear that peace across the wider Middle East will remain unreachable.