JD Vance (L) and Benjamin Netanyahu (R).
Press TV
A tense phone call this week between US vice president JD Vance and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has laid bare growing friction between Washington and Tel Aviv over an unplanned war that has proved disastrous for both allies.
According to a report published by Axios, a US-based news website closely aligned with the Israeli military apparatus, Vance used the call to chastise Netanyahu for his “overly optimistic” assessments regarding the likelihood of “regime change” in Iran.
“Before the war, Bibi (Netanyahu) really sold it to the president as being easy, as regime change being a lot likelier than it was,” a US official was quoted as saying by the media outlet. “And the VP (Vance) was clear-eyed about some of those statements.”
The tense exchange underscores the delicate dynamics within the beleaguered Trump administration as it navigates both its partnership with Israel and bids to end the war that has failed to achieve any of its objectives.
Vance, who had previously projected himself as an opponent of open-ended foreign wars, reportedly was not in favour of the latest military aggression against the Islamic Republic but had to support it once Donald Trump and Netanyahu made the decision.
Vance has reportedly held multiple calls with Netanyahu, met with Persian Gulf allies of Washington, and been involved in indirect communications with some mediators in an attempt to persuade Tehran to give up its retaliatory military operations.
In a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Trump introduced him as a potential negotiator, replacing Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who were the strong proponents of war against Iran.
Axios, however, said that the vice president’s scepticism of Israel’s prewar strategy and his push for a negotiated end to the war have made him a target of Israeli war hawks.
Meanwhile, as Press TV reported on Wednesday, Iran has responded negatively to an American proposal conveyed through Pakistan and aimed at ending the ongoing war, insisting that it will only occur on Tehran’s own terms and timeline.
The official with knowledge of the details of the proposal said Iran will not allow Trump to dictate the timing of the war’s end and will end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met, emphasising Tehran’s resolve to continue its defense and inflict “heavy blows” on the enemy until its demands are fulfilled.
The official outlined five specific conditions under which Iran would agree to end the war. These include: A complete halt to “aggression and assassinations” by the enemy, the establishment of concrete mechanisms to ensure that the war is not reimposed on the Islamic Republic, guaranteed and clearly defined payment of war damages and reparations, the end of the war across all fronts and for all resistance groups involved throughout the region, Iran’s exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz is and will remain Iran’s natural and legal right, and it constitutes a guarantee for the implementation of the other party’s commitments, and must be recognized.
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The Most Revolutionary Act 