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Missiles, ceasefire, and blame
An exchange of missiles between Iran and Israel on Sunday and Monday unfolded after Donald Trump insisted he called “all the shots” in the Middle East and after Benjamin Netanyahu ordered bombing of Hezbollah’s stronghold in the southern Beirut district of Dahiyeh on Sunday.
The Guardian said the missile exchange “shone a bright light on the complex and conflicted relationship between the US president and the Israeli prime minister,” as both sides later declared a halt so Trump could declare the ceasefire back on track.
Trump also tied the pause to continued pressure, saying the blockade would be kept in place on the strait of Hormuz, “until a ‘final deal’ is reached.”
In the same sequence, the Guardian reported that after Trump urged restraint and managed to intercept incoming projectiles, Netanyahu ordered missile strikes against targets in Iran, with the exchanges spilling into Monday morning before the halt.
Public friction and leverage
Al Jazeera reported that the flare-up exposed “what some observers say is the most significant crack yet” in the relationship between Netanyahu and Trump, while other analysts questioned whether the public friction reflected real U.S. frustrations.
In that account, Trump told the Financial Times, “He will have no choice,” when asked about whether Netanyahu would approve a possible peace agreement with Iran.
Al Jazeera also described how Trump reportedly called Netanyahu “f***ing crazy” during a phone call and accused him of undermining U.S. diplomacy, warning that Israel’s escalation risked derailing peace talks with Iran.
The National framed the dispute as a question of whether cracks were forming in an “unbreakable relationship,” quoting Thomas Nides saying, “I was in the room when Biden hung up the phone on Bibi [Benjamin Netanyahu]. This is not new,” while adding that Netanyahu has “complicated relationships with US presidents.”
What’s at stake next
The Guardian warned that the peace talks are being negotiated without Israeli participation and said the reported form would leave Iran’s regime with a restricted but continuing nuclear programme, while also tying Israel’s hands in dealing with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
It added that Netanyahu’s political survival depends on whether the peace talks fail and the U.S. is drawn back into the war on Iran, with the paper saying officials in his government have consistently predicted that outcome in off-the-record briefings.
Al Jazeera said the confrontation raised questions about whether Netanyahu can continue wars on Iran and Lebanon without U.S. backing, and it described the core disagreement as driven by political interests rather than alignment of goals.
In that same reporting, Yossi Mekelberg told Al Jazeera that “The war didn’t go the way they wanted it to go,” describing a “complete failure” in assumptions that the campaign would be quick and achieve regime change and end Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
