Washington:

The United States believes a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah is “close” but negotiations are still ongoing, the White House said on Monday.

“We believe we’ve reached this point where we’re close,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, adding however that “we’re not there yet.”

“We believe that the trajectory of this is going in a very positive direction — but again nothing is done until everything is done, nothing is negotiated until everything is negotiated.”

Kirby said it would be “irresponsible” to confirm press reports about the contents of any deal, adding that he did not want to do “anything that might torpedo our chances.”

President Joe Biden had been monitoring the progress of ceasefire talks “very closely” and had been in direct contact with US envoy Amos Hochstein, who visited the region last week, he added.

Kirby would not confirm reports in Saudi media that Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron were set to announce a deal on Tuesday, saying only that the two leaders spoke on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict last week.

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