JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli leaders across the political spectrum reacted angrily Monday to news of an initial agreement between the United States and Iran, calling it a disaster for Israel and directing their fury at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As of early Monday evening, Netanyahu had not issued a statement regarding the deal, which extends the tenuous ceasefire and paves the way for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
However, other Israeli government officials, political rivals, and commentators were quick to criticize the agreement, marking an informal referendum on the premier's tenure ahead of fall elections. The deal has also highlighted Netanyahu's deepening isolation at home, within the region, and increasingly from the United States.
Critics argue that Netanyahu led President Donald Trump into war with Iran while overpromising what could be achieved, and Trump now may be pulling Israel out of the conflict before it feels ready. They say Netanyahu misjudged Trump's appetite for a protracted conflict, was outflanked by Iran in negotiations, and grew increasingly sidelined by other major regional players.
"Israel is paying the price of Netanyahu's hubris and blindness, and the price of the manipulations that he tried to pull on Trump," former Prime Minister and Netanyahu rival Ehud Barak said in an interview with Israel's public broadcaster Monday. "Iran emerged stronger; Israel emerged weaker.
That is Netanyahu's strategic responsibility." Yair Lapid, who will challenge Netanyahu in the upcoming elections, wrote Sunday that the deal was shaping up to be "one of the most shocking failures in Israel's foreign and security policy, entirely registered in Netanyahu's name."
Although Israel is not a party to the deal, it finds itself in a difficult position, partly because it invaded southern Lebanon after Iran-backed Hezbollah fired missiles at northern Israeli towns during the first week of the war. Since negotiations began, Iran has insisted that any agreement to wind down the U.S.-Iran front include a cessation of Israeli hostilities in Lebanon.
On Monday, Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to retain troops in Lebanon. As negotiations progressed and Trump increasingly sought a way out of war, he grew furious over Israel's strikes in Beirut, warning they could jeopardize an agreement.
Ultimately, the president decided to end the Iran conflict, even if it curtailed Israel's options in Lebanon. This leaves Netanyahu in a precarious situation: his relationship with Trump may require downscaling a military campaign in Lebanon that is widely popular in Israel.
"All Hezbollah has to do is get one rocket across into an Israeli town in northern Israel, and then the pressure on Netanyahu — which he's already hearing from his own base and from the opposition — will ramp up," said Daniel Shapiro, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and a Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council.
"It's going to be very hard to resist that," Shapiro added. "And that gives a lot of power to control this dynamic to Hezbollah, and essentially to Iran." Some of the more hawkish members of Netanyahu's ruling coalition have slammed the new deal and urged the prime minister to continue the Lebanon campaign, even if it upsets the U.S.
and risks scuttling the agreement. "We must not compromise on anything less than the dismantling of Hezbollah," Israel's ultranationalist national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, wrote on X.
In Lebanon, the deal left the future of Israel's campaign uncertain. But in Iran, the deal tied Netanyahu's hands before he met his war goals.
Netanyahu and the U.S. launched the war on Feb.
28 with the aim of destroying Iran's nuclear ambitions. Nearly four months later, after Iran withstood a withering aerial campaign, Tehran is in a much stronger position, according to analysts and critics.
Its proxy network survives and is still able to fire missiles into Israel. Tehran has been able to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important waterways, choking global trade and driving up prices for basic needs worldwide.
It is also unclear how much damage was done to Iran's nuclear infrastructure and ballistic missile program.
"Israel believes that the war delayed the Iranian nuclear program, but did not change its objectives," political commentator Anna Barsky wrote for Ma'ariv, a major Hebrew daily newspaper. She said Israeli officials are also worried that under its deal with the U.S., Iran could receive a major influx of cash.
According to three regional officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations, the agreement is expected to include the phased lifting of sanctions and a release of frozen Iranian assets. "Trump signs an agreement that funnels billions to the Ayatollahs' regime, leaves the nuclear infrastructure intact, preserves the ballistic threat as is, and throws a lifeline to the murderous regime in Tehran," Yair Golan, center-left party leader and former general, posted on X.
Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens soon, experts warn it could take weeks or months for oil shipments to fully resume due to insurance, logistics, and damage to infrastructure. The global economy remains under pressure from high energy prices, and the timeline for recovery remains uncertain.