Israel's strikes on Iran show Trump is unable to restrain Netanyahu as Middle East slips closer to chaos
As Israeli jets struck targets in Iran on Friday morning, the US moved quickly to distance itself from Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to target Tehran in an escalation that threatens an all-out war in the Middle East.
The unilateral strikes indicated a collapse of Donald Trump's efforts to restrain the Israeli prime minister and almost certainly scuttled Trump's efforts to negotiate a deal with Iran that would prevent the country from seeking a nuclear weapon.
It also will probably lead to an Iranian retaliation that could develop into a larger war between Israel and Iran, a new conflict that Trump has publicly sought to avoid.
As the dust was still settling from the strikes in Tehran, senior US officials were reduced to calling the Israeli strike a 'unilateral' action and warned Tehran away from retaliating against US embassies and bases in the region.
'Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran,' said secretary of state Marco Rubio in a statement. 'We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region.
'Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defence,' he continued. 'President Trump and the administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners. Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel.' Washington officials and analysts had expected that Israel would hold off on launching strikes at least until after the US exhausted attempts to negotiate a deal with Iran. During a phone call on Monday, Trump had urged Netanyahu not to attack Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported. But by Wednesday, Trump began to pull non-essential personnel out of embassies and bases in the Middle East within striking distance of Iran.
'There's clearly some confusion in the US position right now … and some differences between the United States position and Israel's position,' said William Wechsler, the senior director of the Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs at the Atlantic Council.
It was unlikely that Netanyahu would have launched the strike if he was explicitly given a red light by the Trump administration, said Wechsler. But the Trump administration had hastily distanced itself from the strike and had also failed to suggest it would participate in defending Israel from a likely Iranian retaliation.
'At least out of the box, it seems to be a rather discordant US response,' he said.
Adding to the confusion, an Israeli broadcaster close to Netanyahu's government said on Thursday that the strikes were fully coordinated with Washington.
Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, was expected to travel to Muscat in Oman in order to conduct a sixth round of talks with Iran on Sunday in what was seen as a last chance for diplomacy.
And the strikes took place just hours after Trump had publicly urged the Netanyahu government not to attack Iran, with the US president saying that he believed an Israeli offensive would 'blow' up the negotiations.
'I'd love to avoid a conflict,' Trump said in remarks from the White House on Thursday. 'We are fairly close to a pretty good agreement … I'd much prefer an agreement. As long as I think there is an agreement I don't want them going in because I think that would blow it.' But, in a nod to speculation that the US was intentionally signaling an imminent attack against Iran, he noted that a strike could also compel Iran to make a deal that would limit its efforts to seek a nuclear weapon.
'It might help it actually but it also could blow it,' he said.
That is now a reality. Critics have said the US decision to retreat from the region, stemming from Trump's decision to abandon the Iranian nuclear deal called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action under the first Trump administration has led to a greater likelihood of conflict in the region.
The attack was 'clearly intended to scuttle the Trump administration's negotiations with Iran,' said Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, and is 'further evidence of how little respect world powers – including our own allies – have for President Trump'.
'This is a disaster of Trump and Netanyahu's own making, and now the region risks spiraling toward a new, deadly conflict,' he added.
'Iran would not be this close to possessing a nuclear weapon if Trump and prime minister Netanyahu had not forced America out of the nuclear agreement with Iran that had brought Europe, Russia and China together behind the United States to successfully contain Iran's nuclear ambitions.'
- The Guardian
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