How the Iran Deal Is Testing the U.S.-Israel Alliance

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**Natalie Kitroeff** (0:37)
From The New York Times, I'm Natalie Kitroeff. This is The Daily.
As the US and Iran try to reach a lasting end to the war, a major threat has emerged, the volatile conflict in Lebanon. President Trump needs Israel to stop attacking Hezbollah there in order to get Iran to agree to a deal. But many supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu feel betrayed by Trump's actions. Today, my colleagues Ronen Bergman and Mark Mazzetti explain the growing tensions between the United States and Israel and how this moment is testing a decades-old alliance. It's Wednesday, June 24th.
Ronen, Mark, welcome back. It's great to have you both here again.

**Mark Mazzetti** (1:34)
Thanks, Natalie.

**Ronen Bergman** (1:35)
Pleasure being here. Thank you.

**Natalie Kitroeff** (1:37)
So, in the last several days, we have seen a stunning break between the US and Israel, who entered this war in Iran as partners, and are now very clearly at odds over how it ends. And this is a split that you both said was already developing in April, the last time you were on the show.
And so, I want to start by asking, how big of a deal is the rupture that we are seeing over this new ceasefire and peace negotiation?

**Ronen Bergman** (2:07)
I think, Natalie, there is no, at least not in my vocabulary, not in English and not even in Hebrew, there are not enough words to describe the magnitude of what we are seeing from the point of view of Israeli politics, of Netanyahu's legacy is present, chances to be re-elected, and of course, from the point of view of the Israeli public.
Three times he was able to convince Trump to allow him to strike in Iran, then he convinced Trump to join him in June, and then he convinced Trump to fulfill his life dream a joint U.S.-Israeli strike together in order to topple the regime. So until then, everything went very well for him, and this overnight shift of the American administration is the undo of everything for him.

**Natalie Kitroeff** (2:58)
Yeah, is it fair, Mark, to say that now the strength of that alliance between the US and Israel is in question, now that we see the terms of this MOU between Iran and the United States?

**Mark Mazzetti** (3:12)
Yeah, Natalie, it's not only fair to say it, I think it's also even potentially an understatement. These two countries knew how to get into a war, but they had no idea how to get out of it. They were on, or they are on, two totally different pages about the outcome of this war. Once the war didn't go according to the most wildly optimistic outcomes that they hoped it would in the first few days, things began going off the rails, the relationship started to fracture, and this is where we are today.

**Natalie Kitroeff** (3:44)
So walk us through how we arrived at this point.

**Mark Mazzetti** (3:48)
So let's go back to when the MOU was signed last week and where things stand right now. Iran's regime is still in place. Iran's ballistic missile force is diminished, but still intact. Iran's nuclear program, which was ostensibly the biggest reason for carrying out this war, is very much diminished, but the future of it is for a later negotiation. They've punted that issue. So the main goals of the war haven't been achieved.
Even President Trump said, Sir, you shouldn't let them have any missile. When asked about Iran's missiles, Trump said, well, I said, well, they're allowed to have them.

**Donald Trump** (4:32)
What am I going to do? Am I going to let Saudi Arabia have missiles, but they can't have them?
Yes, sir. Can't, doesn't work that way, you know?

**Mark Mazzetti** (4:40)
Implying that if other countries like Saudi Arabia, like Israel have them, why not Iran?

**Donald Trump** (4:45)
And missiles aren't the problem. Missiles are, they hurt a little location, but they don't blow up the planet.

**Mark Mazzetti** (4:55)
And of course, there is the sort of central issue of Hezbollah and Lebanon, and the fact that this new agreement restrains Israel's movement's freedom to hit Hezbollah is now restricted. And this is, I think as we talked to the last time we were on the show, a fundamental issue for Netanyahu politically, because he's made this pledge that he will protect Israel from Hezbollah.