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Vance presses Israel
US Vice President JD Vance used a White House briefing to tell Israel to stop attacking the US over the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, saying, “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, Dubbed ‘Architect’ of Iran Deal, Spends Week Attacking Israel While Defending Controversial Memorandum Error: Contact form not found”
Vance tied the pressure to military dependence, arguing that “Over the last three months, two thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars.”
The dispute is playing out alongside fighting in Lebanon, where CNN reported that Israel and Hezbollah agreed to renew a ceasefire on Friday after fighting again jeopardized US-Iran negotiations.
The same US-Iran framework is described as a 14-point interim agreement that begins a 60-day negotiation window and includes a requirement for “permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”
In parallel, the BBC reported that at least 18 people were killed in southern Lebanon after overnight Israeli air strikes, and that four Israeli soldiers died.
Threats, ceasefire, and warnings
CNN described Vance’s remarks as “words that sounded a whole lot like a threat,” framing them as the latest sign the US could be breaking with Israel.
CNN also reported that Israel and Hezbollah agreed to renew a ceasefire on Friday, after fighting between the Israeli military and the Iran-backed militant group again jeopardized US-Iran negotiations.
In a separate warning, The New Republic said U.S. intelligence was telling that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was probably going to try to undermine the Trump administration’s peace deal with Iran.
The New Republic quoted an unnamed U.S. official saying, “Continuing to occupy part of Lebanon is a recipe for disaster,” and warned that without a full Israeli withdrawal, “the likelihood of resumed hostilities between the [Israeli military] and Hezbollah is all but certain.”
Against that backdrop, the BBC reported that Israel Defense Forces struck 80 targets linked to Hezbollah and killed “dozens” of its members.
What’s at stake next
Republican lawmakers raised concerns that the US-Iran memorandum could come at Israel’s expense, focusing on a provision calling for an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”
“The United States joining with Israel to launch a war in the Middle East was always a fraught situation for the longstanding US-Israeli alliance”
MS NOW reported that Sen. John Cornyn told the outlet he would encourage Israel “to continue to take the fight to Hezbollah,” and he said the memorandum’s reconstruction language would give Iran “hundreds of millions of dollars to support its terrorist proxies, including Hezbollah.”
The same memorandum is described in the Military article as requiring Lebanon’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and it is linked to a 60-day window for negotiations after the MOU signing.
PBS reported that Vance said the US Navy lifted its blockade on Iranian ports by allowing more than a dozen ships to pass through, and that “more than 12.5 million barrels went through the shipping channel Wednesday night.”
Meanwhile, the Guardian reported that Vance’s message to Israeli critics was that Trump is Israel’s only ally left in the world, while it also noted that Israel published a map showing an expanded military control zone in southern Lebanon and said it would not rule out attacks beyond it.
