Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of the potential signing of a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran, Israeli leaders are concerned that the deal endangers Israel.
Senior Israeli officials who spoke with Channel 12 News warned, “The agreement with Iran endangers security interests.”
“The Iranians don't agree to this framework agreement for nothing,” the sources said, while claiming that the U.S. largely accepted Iran’s conditions.
The officials also told Channel 12 that the Iran agreement resembles the end of the war in Gaza, in which Hamas was not disarmed, saying the agreement removes any “credible military threat” being used as leverage.
“What will be the substantial leverage of the Americans if, after 60 days of the ceasefire, the Iranians do not begin to take the steps required of them?” the sources asked. “The credible military threat has been eroded to a minimum.”
A senior Israeli official who spoke with Ynetechoed these concerns, adding that Israel has no input in the deal.
“Nobody is happy with it. We understand that it is not good for us, and that it harms Israeli interests,” the official said. “What is disturbing is that Israel cannot have any influence. Its voice is not heard.”
Former IDF Chief of Staff and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz did not offer an enthusiastic assessment of the U.S.-Iran agreement.
“It is a failure that Iran and Lebanon are connected. Netanyahu, who claims to be in a 'different league' with the Americans, should have worked on this, and he did not do it successfully,” Gantz said in an interview with 103FM Radio.
Gantz also noted that by allowing Iran to tie the agreement to the situation in Lebanon, Israel would be forced to deal with a continued threat from Lebanon.
“There is a sense not of failure, because the operational achievements are high, but a sense in my eyes of a strategic miss, because we did not succeed neither alone in Lebanon, nor alone in Iran, nor in the relationship between Lebanon and Iran, to strategically exhaust the military achievements that were very great,” Gantz said.
“We have an agreement that should be under pressure. It filters a lot of things, and doesn't promise anything, not in the nuclear field, not in the field of regional stability – in my opinion, there is one conclusion: we have to prepare to deal with this thing in the years to come,” he continued.
Former IDF Chief of Staff and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon agreed with Gantz’s assessment, saying the agreement between the U.S. and Iran gives Iran “the upper hand.”
“Right now, Iran has the upper hand,” Ya’alon told Ynet News. “Unfortunately, they not only came out stronger - they survived against huge armies. They will receive money, and this more extreme regime can also say, ‘I will run for a nuclear bomb,’ like Korea.”
Trump is eager to reach an agreement. He mainly wants to show that his agreement is better than Obama's. I don't see that.”
Meanwhile, several opposition politicians also attacked Netanyahu, saying the deal being signed sidelines Israel’s security interests.
“The emerging agreement does not achieve any of Israel's war goals,” Opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote to 𝕏. “The regime survives, the missile program exists, and Iran can rebuild its nuclear program.”
Lapid said Netanyahu has turned Israel “into a patron state that receives instructions regarding its national security.”
Right-wing opposition MK Avigdor Lieberman called the deal “a total victory for the Ayatollahs,” playing off Netanyahu’s promise of total victory against Hamas and Iran.
Coalition members have largely been silent on the Iran deal following President Trump’s announcement. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and former IDF Chief of Staff and prime minister hopeful Gadi Eisenkot have also not commented publicly on the agreement's effect on Israel.
A report on Channel 12 said that President Trump phoned Prime Minister Netanyahu Thursday evening to discuss the Iran deal. That report cited an American official, who quoted the president as saying, “This is the deal. It’s an excellent deal, and it’s time to end this war.”
That official also said that Netanyahu was largely silent during the call.
“Bibi didn’t say much in the call,” the official told Channel 12. “Evidently, he understood that there’s going to be a deal, and that he can’t stop it.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu will hold a security cabinet meeting Sunday evening, in which the effects of the memorandum of understanding on Israel are expected to be addressed.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
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