On one of the main roads out of Dahieh, the name given to the Beirut suburbs now at the heart of Middle East geopolitics, a row of streetlights bearing the same photograph of Iran’s penultimate supreme leader, the late Ali Khamenei, seem to bid farewell to those leaving the area. A few meters further on, as the city of Beirut begins, the iconography that floods Dahieh with the faces of Iranian and Hezbollah leaders — its Lebanese allies — vanishes, as does, to a large extent, the threat of Israeli strikes.

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Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a ceasefire, a tripartite statement from both governments and the U.S. State Department announced. The cessation of hostilities is conditional on the Lebanese fundamentalist militant group Hezbollah completely halting its attacks and withdrawing its operatives from south of the Litani River. If implemented, the pact would open the door to relaunching peace talks between the United States and Iran.

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Talks to end the war with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz appear, for the first time in three months, to be moderately on track. At least that is the impression conveyed by public statements and leaks from both sides: water is beginning to fill the deep negotiating well, which until now had been practically dry.

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