Vance: US, Israeli Interests 'Diverge' on Iran
SkimNews Take
A vice president publicly mapping daylight with Israel on Iran telegraphs to Tehran that Washington wants negotiating room, while shielding the administration from accusations of unconditional alignment.
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Vance told Fox News's Jesse Watters that "the Israelis and the United States, we have a lot of shared interests, but we also have some situations where our interests diverge," framing the Trump administration's approach to Iran as serving American interests regardless of Israeli preferences.
- The New York Times reported that recent US intelligence assessments have raised concerns about Israeli spy agencies eavesdropping on American negotiators working on a peace deal with Iran.
- Israel opposes leaving Iran's ballistic missile program and its support for terrorist proxies out of the negotiations, and is anxious the Trump administration will grant sanctions relief without fully blocking Iran's path to a nuclear weapon.
- Netanyahu defied Trump's ceasefire directives by targeting sites in Beirut in retaliation for Hezbollah attacks and by launching retaliatory strikes against Iran after Iran fired missiles at Israel.
- Trump posted on Truth Social that both Israel and Iran are "looking to do an immediate CEASEFIRE!" and that "Final negotiations on 'Peace' are proceeding, subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way."
- Vance defended the nuclear track, saying: "We've created the space necessary where the president believes... that we can get the long-term settlement to Iran's nuclear deal. Now, Israel may like that, they may not like that, but fundamentally, we think this is in the best interest of the United States of America."
Why it matters: A sitting vice president publicly acknowledging a US-Israel rift is rare, and the surrounding context — Israeli espionage concerns, Netanyahu's open military defiance of Trump's ceasefire, and disagreement over whether missiles and proxies belong in the Iran talks — shows the alliance is under visible strain precisely while the US is trying to close a nuclear deal with Tehran.
Ask SkimNews
