Trump aides see US-Israel split on Iran endgame
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- Trump is the most bullish figure in the White House on the Iran war and more aligned with Netanyahu's maximalist objectives than many of his own aides, yet three advisers told Axios he will likely want to end major operations before Netanyahu does
- Israel is conducting assassinations and laying groundwork for regime change while the US focuses almost exclusively on military targets — decimating Iran's missile program, nuclear sites, navy, and proxy funding
- Israel's strike on Iranian oil storage tanks was the war's only clear friction point, with the White House telling Israel not to target oil again without a green light from Washington
- National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent resigned Tuesday, claiming Israel had goaded Trump into an unnecessary war — a concern one senior adviser acknowledged as 'a nagging political problem'
- Netanyahu showed US Ambassador Mike Huckabee a 'punch card' of Iranian leaders Israel has assassinated or intends to target, including security chief Ali Larijani killed on Tuesday
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth drew a public line on the divergence: 'Our objectives are our objectives. We'll set the tempo of when those are met'
Why it matters: With the Strait of Hormuz crisis making US pullback unlikely in the short term, the gap between Trump's stability-first goals and Netanyahu's regime-change ambitions sets up a moment when the US could declare victory before Israel does — already producing a Cabinet resignation and a rare White House demand that Israel coordinate on oil targets, exposing how quickly personal warmth between two leaders can run into divergent war aims.
