As Washington appeared closer than ever this weekend to an agreement with Iran — and as reported details of the emerging framework ricocheted through the media — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to reassure an increasingly uneasy public that Israel’s core interests would be protected no matter what happens at the negotiating table.

Half a day after Trump announced that an agreement had been “largely negotiated,” Netanyahu stated on X that the president assured him over the phone Saturday night that “any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear danger,” and that Trump “reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself against threats on every front, including Lebanon.”

Regardless of what Trump may have told the premier, however, the apparent contours of the agreement, understood mostly based on anonymous accounts from Washington, Tehran, and Jerusalem, raised Israeli concerns that Trump was preparing to settle for far less than the US-Israeli campaign against Iran originally set out to achieve.

While Trump and Netanyahu initially framed the campaign in sweeping strategic terms — seeking not only to degrade Iran’s nuclear program but also to weaken its missile infrastructure and regional proxy network and perhaps even create the conditions for regime change — the current framework bears no indication of meeting Israel’s concerns on those issues.

The plan is said to include a ceasefire in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, essentially shackling the Israel Defense Forces from dealing with a direct threat to the Israeli homefront at the behest of Iran.

Yet despite the impact such a deal would have on Israel, negotiations until now have reportedly been held with the near-total exclusion of Jerusalem, raising fears that threats Netanyahu has long described as “existential” will not be adequately addressed.

While Israel won’t officially be party to whatever agreement emerges, it will effectively be bound by it. Israel is limited in what it can achieve militarily without the US’s participation and Netanyahu is highly unlikely to break with the Trump White House or be seen torpedoing the president’s deal-making, even on such weighty matters.

It’s unclear what steps Israel is taking beyond calls between Netanyahu and Trump to ensure its concerns are taken into account at the negotiating table. Whether Israel has sufficient leverage to pressure Trump is also unknown.

What does seem clear is that Trump is ready to end the fighting and get the Strait of Hormuz open, repeatedly extending a temporary ceasefire that has now lasted as long as the war itself.

With its planes idled and bombs packed away, the mission for Israel is now securing clear guarantees and operational understandings from Washington — not just verbal commitments in private calls — on core issues from nuclear enrichment to Hezbollah threats.

According to multiple reports, confirmed by Israeli officials, the sides........

© The Times of Israel