Trump Calls Off Vance’s Iran Diplomacy While Israeli Opposition Warns Netanyahu Against a Unilateral Attack

As President Trump dismisses Vice President JD Vance’s diplomatic efforts, Israel is debating the wisdom of a post-election military action against Iran. In a first since the October 27 election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited his would-be successor, Gadi Eisenkot, for a briefing on “security and diplomatic challenges that Israel faces at this time,” according to a joint statement the two men issued after their meeting on Thursday.The meeting was attended by Mr. Netanyahu’s military adviser, Major General Guy Markizano, who was present throughout the two-hour session. The two leaders “agreed to continue briefing each other as necessary,” they said in the statement. The possibility of a unity government was reportedly not discussed. Prior to the Thursday session Mr. Netanyahu’s opponents accused the premier of planning an attack on Iran for political reasons. Critics claimed that Mr. Netanyahu has no authority to launch such an attack as the head of a caretaker government, and while Mr. Eisenkot has a mandate to form a new government..It is almost inconceivable, though, that Mr. Netanyahu could attack unless coordinated with Washington. “I don’t believe we would make a significant move on Iran against America’s wishes,” the head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, Yossi Kuperwasser, tells The New York Sun. In public statements Mr. Trump has been cool about the possibility of renewed kinetic action in Iran. Administration officials express preference for increasing economic pressure on Iran, while the military gradually clears Hormuz Strait for international shipping.On Thursday the president made clear that Mr. Vance’s diplomacy with the Islamic Republic has reached a dead end. “We don’t need a deal with Iran,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, hundreds of billions of dollars, and we’ve got their Strait.” Mr. Vance was reportedly scheduled to negotiate with top Iranian officials over the weekend, but in his post Mr. Trump wrote that he asked the vice president “to focus his complete and total attention” on combatting what the president termed “massive corruption and crime” in elections at Democratic-run cities and states. The Netanyahu-Eisenkot meeting on Thursday followed allegations that the prime minister would launch a significant attack on Iran during the post-election transition period. “I warn that a caretaker government is not authorized to make decisions that could drag Israel into a war without parliamentary oversight and the full agreement of all security officials,” a leading member of Mr. Eisenkot’s Change Bloc, Avigdor Liberman, said in a statement earlier Thursday.The Israel Our Home party chief, Mr. Liberman was designated to assume the chairmanship of the Knesset’s foreign affairs and security committee. Mr. Netanyahu, though, managed to delay the appointment until next week, raising suspicions that the premier was planning an immediate attack on Iran before an adversarial figure takes control of a key oversight legislature body.Adding to the suspicion was an N12 report that the Israel Defense Forces chief, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, was at odds with Mr. Netanyahu and the Mossad chief, Roman Gofman, over an attack on Iran. Defense Minister Israel Katz argued in an X posting that even during the current period, “There is one prime minister and one defense minister who directs the IDF.” Mr. Eisenkot, who was charged by President Isaac Herzog on Sunday to try to form a Knesset majority in support of his bid to replace Mr. Netanyahu, cautioned the premier on Wednesday against conducting a military attack before a new government is formed. “I’m not privy to the latest intelligence, but what I know indicates that no urgent operation in Iran is needed,” Mr. Kuperwasser, a former chief of the IDF’s intelligence research unit, said. Yet, he added, “Bibi is a politician, but first and foremost he’s an Israeli patriot. Predictions that he would launch an election-eve attack on Iran to disrupt the vote proved mere speculations.”Past Israeli leaders have conducted military operations during political transition periods. In 1981, most famously, Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who headed a caretaker government on the eve of an election, ordered a strike that destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear facility. The attack was condemned by the Reagan administration and reportedly was opposed by Mossad. The situation today is different, though. Following unprecedented American-Israeli cooperation in the Iran war, any Jerusalem decision to strike without coordination with Washington is almost unthinkable to most Israelis.

Trump Calls Off Vance’s Iran Diplomacy While Israeli Opposition Warns Netanyahu Against a Unilateral Attack

Trump Calls Off Vance’s Iran Diplomacy While Israeli Opposition Warns Netanyahu Against a Unilateral Attack

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