Vice President JD Vance issued a blunt public warning to Israeli officials Thursday, telling them to stop publicly criticizing the peace deal President Donald Trump negotiated with Iran or risk losing the United States as an ally.
“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 said at a White House press conference.
The warning came after Axios reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “fuming” over a memorandum of understanding the Trump administration signed with Tehran. Israeli officials across the political spectrum have condemned the agreement, saying it ties Israel’s hands in dealing with Hezbollah in Lebanon and reduces pressure on Iran and its regional proxies.
Vance reminded Israel of its dependence on American military support. “Over the last three months, two-thirds of the defensive weapons that protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars,” he said.
The vice president also questioned whether Netanyahu is giving consistent messages in private and in public. Asked about Axios’s report that the prime minister was furious over the deal, Vance said the characterization is “not reflective of the conversations that I’ve had with him, but maybe he’s saying something to somebody else that he’s not saying to me.”
The deal includes a ceasefire in Lebanon. U.S. officials said Iran is expected to restrain Hezbollah from attacking Israel under its terms.
Trump has publicly criticized Israeli strikes, saying they have disrupted the Iran talks. Vance said Thursday the situation follows a pattern: negotiations close in on a deal, then a strike hits a civilian area in Beirut. “A lot of people who have nothing to do with Hezbollah lose their lives,” he said. “That’s not acceptable.”
Netanyahu has said publicly that he and Trump do not always see “eye to eye” and has pledged to focus on Israeli security, even when it diverges from U.S. preferences. He has also drawn criticism at home from lawmakers who say he failed to shape Trump’s Iran talks before they were finalized.
