Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu insists, “Iran will not have nuclear weapons,” as his coalition is divided and U.S. Vice President JD Vance slams Israeli “freakout” over memorandum that many in Jerusalem view as dangerous capitulation.
Under Trump’s deal, Iran gets a lot – the release of money frozen abroad accounting to some $24 billion, the end to the U.S. blockade of its ports, an end to sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, and the creation of a $300 billion fund for Iranian “reconstruction and economic development.”
Indeed, most of the 14 points deal with economic relief for Iran.
Netanyahu said the objectives of Israel’s military operation were to remove the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon, including its ballistic missile arsenal, but Israeli commentators say that President Donald Trump settled for a return to $4 per gallon gas prices.
Israel’s political and military establishment erupted in consternation this week following the surprise signing of a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, with senior defense officials warning that the agreement relieves pressure on Tehran just as the Islamic Republic was showing signs of economic collapse.
The 14-point framework, signed on Wednesday by President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, commits both nations to an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon” — language that Israeli officials say effectively constrains their military options while binding them to an agreement they had no part in negotiating.
Trump did not include Israel in negotiations, just as he excluded US allies in Afganistan when he surrendered to the Taliban in February 2020.
According to two sources familiar with discussions during a Security Cabinet meeting this week, senior IDF officers expressed deep frustration that the U.S. had abandoned the economic pressure campaign just as it was beginning to yield significant results.
Ministers were told that Iran’s economy had deteriorated sharply under the U.S.-led naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with shortages of basic goods, medicines, and long lines at gas stations.
“The Iranians are now on the verge of economic collapse,” cabinet ministers were reportedly told, according to participants in the meeting. “If the Americans had maintained the blockade, Iran would not have been able to withstand it.”
An Israeli political source who spoke on condition of anonymity described the memorandum as “horrible,” suggesting that President Trump “preferred to cut it short” and end the war even at the cost of forgoing Israeli security interests.
Netanyahu’s Dilemma
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged in recent days that Israel is not a party to the agreement and that he did not know the memorandum’s final wording prior to its signing.
At a press conference Monday night, Netanyahu sought to frame the war as a success, asserting that the Iranian nuclear threat had been defused and that Iran’s economy had been devastated — claims that have drawn skepticism from security analysts.
The prime minister now faces a delicate balancing act: maintaining his working relationship with Trump while managing a restive coalition that includes far-right ministers who have openly called for Israel to disregard the agreement entirely.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir declared that “Trump’s agreement does not bind us,” while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the deal bad for Israel and “the entire free world.”
Ben-Gvir went further in a direct response to U.S. Vice President JD Vance, urging the United States to deal with Iran’s leadership “just as the United States dealt with the Nazis of the 20th century.”
Vance’s Sharp Rebuke
In an extraordinary White House press briefing on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance castigated Israeli officials who have criticized the agreement, suggesting they lack appreciation for American support.
“Number one, Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. And he happens to be the head of state of the world’s superpower,” Vance told reporters. “If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”
Vance dismissed what he called “this whole freakout in Israel a little bit odd,” suggesting concern over the deal stems from unjustified mistrust of the U.S. and “misinformation.”
Asked how he would respond to ministers calling for Israel to ignore the agreement, Vance said: “You’re a country of nine million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.”
Security Concerns Mount
Israeli defense officials have identified several critical gaps in the memorandum:
The agreement does not explicitly mention Hezbollah nor require its disarmament, contains no requirement to remove Iran’s ballistic missile threat, and Israeli officials worry that allowing Iran to retain diluted uranium will permit it to build a nuclear weapon at some point in the future.
On the nuclear issue, Israel’s working assumption is that Iran will continue to deceive the international community and advance its program along two parallel tracks: covert uranium enrichment and progress in building up its arms.
“Tehran is not like any other state in the region; they’re not like any other state altogether,” Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said in an interview with Newsmax. “They’re a murderous bunch of thugs, and if they have ballistic missiles, they’re going to use them on all of their neighbors.”
Leiter offered cautious pushback against the administration’s new stance that Iran should be allowed to keep some ballistic missiles, saying he hoped the issue would “be discussed and hopefully terminated” during the upcoming 60-day negotiation period.
The Lebanese Front
The memorandum’s provisions regarding Lebanon have drawn particular concern in Jerusalem. The agreement states that the permanent end of hostilities extends to Lebanon and that the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty must be respected — language Israel interprets as a call to withdraw from the buffer zone its military has created in southern Lebanon.
Netanyahu has publicly rejected Iran’s contention that the IDF must withdraw from Lebanon. The military on Thursday confirmed it would remain there for the time being, sharing a map of areas where troops are operating.
At the G7 summit in France, Trump criticized Israel’s conduct in Lebanon, saying the campaign has gone on “too long” and that “too many people are being killed.” He also suggested Syria should “take care of Hezbollah,” an idea Israeli and Lebanese officials have dismissed as unrealistic.
Trump further described Netanyahu as “a very difficult guy” and said the Israeli leader should be grateful for the Iran agreement. “Because if Iran had a nuclear weapon, Israel wouldn’t be around for two hours,” Trump said.
Economic Implications
The agreement allows Iran to resume oil exports immediately, with the U.S. suspending sanctions on Iran’s oil sector for 60 days. A $300 billion private investment fund has also been established, with more than half the amount already committed by international companies.
Israeli officials view these provisions with alarm, fearing the influx of funds will serve as “oxygen” for Iran’s economy and military. Several participants in the cabinet meeting reportedly expressed concern that the agreement effectively relieved pressure at a moment when Iran appeared increasingly vulnerable.
“Hungry people do not necessarily take to the streets,” said Dr. Raz Zimmt, director of the Iran and the Shiite Axis Program at the Institute for National Security Studies, cautioning against assumptions that economic hardship would compel Tehran to make broader concessions.
A New Reality for Israel
For Israel, the agreement has created an uncomfortable new reality. Trump remains popular, powerful, and rhetorically committed to Israel’s survival — but his support now comes with public scolding, transactional accounting, and an unmistakable demand that Netanyahu not interfere with the deal Trump wants to call his own.
“Trump is not in the business of these prolonged wars, forever wars,” said Ksenia Svetlova, executive director of the Regional Organization for Peace, Economics and Security. “Trump’s goal is no war in Lebanon, and consequently no war with Iran, because Iran ties these two things together. But the goal that is important to Israel — and to all of the Israelis, who understand that we cannot continue the way it is — this goal is not achieved.”
As the 60-day negotiation period begins, Israel finds itself increasingly isolated, its security concerns seemingly secondary to an American president eager to declare victory and move on.
“Anyone in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in,” Vance said Thursday — a message that, for many in Jerusalem, only deepened the sense of abandonment.
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