WASHINGTON (AP) — According to the outgoing Democratic administration, the Biden administration kept President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration informed of its efforts to negotiate the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, which went into effect early Wednesday.

Trump’s team, meanwhile, was quick to move the ball up and claim credit for the rare piece of good news for a Democratic administration dragged down by the bitter Middle East conflict.

“Everyone is coming to the table because of President Trump,” Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, Trump’s pick for national security adviser, said in a post on X on Tuesday, shortly before Israel’s Cabinet signed the deal. “His stunning victory sent a clear message to the rest of the world that chaos will not be tolerated. I look forward to concrete steps towards de-escalation in the Middle East.”

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed Wednesday that he was keeping Waltz in the negotiations, but firmly rejected the idea that Trump deserves credit for finally getting the long-awaited deal done.

“I just want to point out that you know you’ve done something really good when others take credit for it,” Sullivan told CNN on Wednesday.

The Biden administration’s coordination with Trump’s team in its efforts to bring about the ceasefire in Lebanon is perhaps the most prominent example of cooperation during a sometimes rocky transition period.

Trump’s transition team reached a required agreement with President Joe Biden’s White House just Tuesday that will allow transition staff to coordinate with the existing federal workforce before Trump takes office on Jan. 20. There was some high-level coordination between the outgoing and incoming Biden Trump teams, including discussions between Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Waltz.

Biden hailed the ceasefire agreement in the Rose Garden on Tuesday as a crucial step that he hoped could be the catalyst for a broader peace in the Middle East through nearly 14 months of war after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel was shaken, 2023.

“This should mean a permanent cessation of hostilities,” Biden said. “What remains of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not – I emphasize, will not be allowed – endanger Israel’s security again.”

White House officials now hope that calm in Lebanon will revive cross-country efforts to end the devastating war in Gaza, where Hamas still holds dozens of hostages and the conflict remains intractable.

Biden said the U.S. and Israel would hold talks with officials from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey in the coming days to try to get the Gaza talks back on track.

But during Biden’s moment of success in a conflict that has shattered his reputation at home and abroad, the specter of the new Trump administration was ever-present.

According to a senior Biden administration official, Trump’s senior national security team was briefed by the Biden administration on the progress of negotiations and finally reached a conclusion on Tuesday. The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity in a call organized by the White House, added that incoming Trump administration officials were not directly involved in the talks but that it was important that they knew “what we are doing.” negotiated and what.” The commitments were.”

Trump’s team and allies, meanwhile, said there was no doubt that the prospect of the Republican president returning to power was pushing both sides to finalize the deal.

Waltz not only praised Trump for reaching the ceasefire agreement, but also warned Iran, Hezbollah’s main financial backer.

“But let us be clear: the Iranian regime is the root cause of the chaos and terror unleashed across the region. “We will not tolerate the status quo of their support of terrorism,” Waltz said in his post.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, also gave a shout-out to the new administration while nodding to Biden’s team.

“I appreciate the hard work of the Biden administration, supported by President Trump, to make this ceasefire a reality,” Graham said in a statement.

Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Washington group Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said the moment reinforces that Iran – which he said should have approved Hezbollah’s agreement to the ceasefire – is carefully considering what lies ahead with Trump could.

“There is no doubt that Iran is withdrawing to regroup before Trump takes office,” said Goldberg, a National Security Council official in Trump’s first administration. “It’s a combination of Israeli military success and Trump’s election – the ayatollah doesn’t wear clothes and he knows we know it.”

The Biden White House also holds a glimmer of hope that the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon could help revive a long-sought normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The official said “a lot of work has been done” to get such an agreement off the ground, “but obviously the situation in Gaza is holding us back.”

Biden said his administration was close to reaching an agreement between the Middle East’s two major powers, just before the Hamas attack sent tremors across the region. He has speculated that the emerging normalization agreement was part of Hamas’s motivation for carrying out its attack on Israel at this time.

Just weeks before the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat next to Biden on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly and marveled that a “historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia” seemed within reach – a diplomatic advance that the Israeli leader said predicted a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

The so-called normalization push that began during the first Trump administration and was dubbed the Abraham Accords is an ambitious attempt to reshape the region and boost Israel’s standing.

The Biden White House plans to keep the incoming Trump administration informed of its efforts and said “anything we’re going to do on this matter, we won’t do unless they know what we’re doing.” the Biden administration official.

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Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Zeke Miller and Chris Megerian contributed reporting.