Carys Garland is pleased to welcome Joseph BAHOUT, Director, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy & International Affairs. Despite the symbolism of a seventh round of US-sponsored negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, Bahout argues that the process is increasingly characterised by stagnation rather than diplomatic momentum. He suggests that the core obstacles are no longer merely technical disagreements over the implementation of the June framework agreement, but a convergence of military realities, domestic political constraints, diminishing American engagement, and wider regional tensions. The negotiations, in his view, exist within a broader strategic ecosystem in which progress on Lebanese-Israeli arrangements remains contingent upon developments in the Iran-US war and Israeli domestic politics.