Seattle: US Vice President JD Vance has sharply criticized Israeli criticism of the US-led peace deal with Iran, saying President Donald Trump is the only world leader still sympathetic to Israel, and that critics must “wake up” to the country’s unfriendly reality.
The comments represent an extraordinary rebuke of widespread Israeli sentiment from a sitting vice president, and come amid broader tensions between close allies as Trump ends the Iran war.
Briefing reporters at the White House, Vance was asked about reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was shocked and privately furious over the memorandum of understanding the United States signed with Iran, to which Israel was not a party.
Vance, who takes a more isolationist approach to foreign policy, including the United States’ relationship with Israel, said the characterization of Netanyahu as angry “does not reflect the conversations I have had with him.”
But he highlighted comments by several right-wing Israeli cabinet ministers, such as Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who have attacked the deal as “bad for Israel and the entire free world.”
Gvir said Israel was not a subordinate of Washington and was not bound by Trump’s deal, and pledged that the country would not withdraw troops from Lebanon. Netanyahu has also promised that the troops will remain.
“My message to them would be twofold,” Vance said of the Israeli critics. “Number one, Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who sympathizes with the nation of Israel right now, and he happens to be the head of state of the world’s superpower.
“If I were in the Israeli government cabinet, maybe I wouldn’t be attacking the only powerful ally I have left in the entire world. Bibi [Netanyahu]It must be admitted, it has not followed this path.
“The other thing I would like to say is that in the last three months, two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for with American tax dollars.
“The problem for Israel is not Donald J. Trump, and 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 finds itself in.”
Vance then left the podium and did not answer any more shouted questions. Before, the said The New York Times He was baffled by the “strange panic” and “freak out” that was happening in Israel regarding the deal, arguing that it was not based on facts.
The MoU with Iran, which Trump signed in Versailles on Wednesday night (French time) after a meeting of G7 world leaders, ends the military conflict “on all fronts” and establishes a 60-day negotiation period for a final agreement.
It explicitly includes Lebanon, where Israel continued to launch airstrikes on Thursday, killing three people, according to a Lebanese news agency.
The agreement ends the US naval blockade of Iranian ports and reopens the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days. It also immediately lifts U.S. oil sanctions on Iran and provides for large-scale sanctions relief – as well as hundreds of billions in investment and reconstruction funds – if Iran meets its obligations under a final deal.
Gulf countries have welcomed the agreement, with Qatar calling it an “important step towards building sustainable peace and promoting economic growth at the regional and international levels.”
Vance referenced Arab support when he defended the deal at the White House, saying they believed it would be “something amazingly transformative for the region,” unlike the 2015 Iran nuclear deal signed by Barack Obama.
The vice president reiterated that American tax money would not go to Iran “under any circumstances,” not even as part of a $300 billion reconstruction fund that the United States agreed to help facilitate under the MoU.
“They don’t get anything unless they change their behavior,” Vance said. “We really have a win-win situation…we hold all the cards.”
When asked about Israel’s continued attacks in Lebanon and whether they could torpedo the entire deal, Vance said he didn’t want to discuss hypotheticals, but that Trump’s expectation was that everyone, including Israel, would work together to make the deal a reality.
Trump has also cajoled Netanyahu on Lebanon, advising him that “there is no need to tear down buildings in Beirut” to fight Hezbollah, and that Israel should “better behave.” He has also suggested that Syria should confront Hezbollah instead of Israel.
The United States and Israel jointly launched war against Iran on February 28 and aimed to fulfill Netanyahu’s long-standing ambition to destroy the Iranian regime. But the regime survived and the resulting peace process exposed divisions between the two allies, with Trump admitting to calling Netanyahu “fucking crazy” on a call.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a new statement saying he had given Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian his blessing to sign the deal despite his own principled opposition.
Trump made the deal “out of desperation,” Khamenei said. He supported face-to-face negotiations with the United States, but added: “It is clear that face-to-face negotiations in the future will not mean acceptance of the enemy’s position.”
with Reuters, AP
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Michael Koziol is North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, deputy editor of the Sun-Herald and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via unknown either email.
