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Israel Fights While Trump Talks
The U.S. demands more restraint from an ally than it does from Iran.
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Iran’s weekend missile attack on Israel was its latest act of war amid the cease-fire, another attempt to impose a new strategic reality on its neighbors. It went differently this time because the Israelis didn’t make excuses for Iran’s regime in reply.
After Iran first fired 11 ballistic missiles at Israel on Sunday—it would fire nearly 30 in all—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back with air strikes. Israel struck reconstituted Iranian air defenses, missile sites and a major petrochemical complex used by the Revolutionary Guard. President Trump had loudly opposed any Israeli response, but the Israeli strikes arm U.S. diplomacy. They clear the path for military action should Tehran deny Mr. Trump the deal he seeks.
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Hezbollah ignored the first Lebanon cease-fire negotiated by Mr. Trump in April and on Thursday it rejected the President’s latest. Israel had refrained from attacking Hezbollah in its Beirut stronghold, and the deal was to continue that forbearance if the terrorists would stop firing on Israeli towns.
Early on Sunday Hezbollah launched another such barrage and Iran said it would strike Israel if it retaliated in Beirut. That isn’t a strategic equation Israelis can tolerate. Jerusalem responded with a single strike in Beirut.
As Iran’s regime weighed its options, consider that Mr. Trump had dismissed its prior attacks on U.S. forces as “a trifle” amid the cease-fire, responding with what he called “love taps.” Mr. Trump didn’t respond to Iran’s attacks on U.S. Gulf allies, excusing the 30 missiles and drones fired on Kuwait and its airport Wednesday as “not a big deal,” a tit-for-tat.
Iran took U.S. inaction as permission to escalate, an assessment Mr. Trump soon vindicated, with shades of Joe Biden. “The Iranian strikes didn’t hurt anybody,” he said, giving the regime cover behind the success of Israeli air defenses. “I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate,” the President added. “Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike, and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one.”
But Israel hadn’t attacked Iran. It had struck Hezbollah in Lebanon, where faraway Iran has no business. Mr. Trump’s logic would grant the Iranians a right of response there—in essence a veto on Israel’s self-defense. Even if it weren’t election season, no Israeli leader can assent to that on his border or let an Iranian ballistic-missile salvo go unanswered. Such weakness would also hurt the U.S. in nuclear talks.
Mr. Netanyahu surely made these points to Mr. Trump on their Sunday call, and the President reportedly advised keeping any retaliation limited. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s earlier statements kept him aloof from Israel’s reply. He could then be seen staving off a large-scale Israeli follow-up Monday morning, when Iran needed a water break. As Mr. Trump later put it, “I said, ‘Bibi, you better be careful, or you will be on your own very soon.’”
All of this creates the appearance of a U.S.-Israeli split, and Mr. Trump is keen to preserve talks with Iran, which he keeps insisting will bear fruit any day now. “I would say an agreement would be signed on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday,” the President said Sunday. “And now this takes place.” But is Iran’s regime really on the brink of signing?
The regime has made a Lebanon cease-fire a prerequisite for a nuclear deal, but it also controls Hezbollah, which is refusing to cease fire. That’s what brought about this military exchange. Iran ordered Hezbollah into this war and could order it out. That Iran doesn’t do so should tell Mr. Trump it prefers the excuse to delay a deal and push for greater advantage.
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If the regime won’t make a deal that meets U.S. objectives, Mr. Trump needs an alternative—and soon. The war has now passed the 100-day mark, and the Strait of Hormuz is still closed. The U.S. has been helping sneak vessels through while its own blockade punishes Iran. But the regime has also gotten away with repeated attacks while it drags out talks and rebuilds its military arsenal. In recent weeks the U.S. position has been eroding.
That changed on Sunday and Monday as Israel rolled back some of what Iran had advanced during the cease-fire. Mr. Trump now can seize the opening by giving the regime a hard deadline and empowering Israel to enforce the cease-fire against Iranian violations. Or he can continue restraining Israel in the hope that Iran gives him an escape from the war in a few more days, just a few more days.
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Appeared in the June 9, 2026, print edition as 'Israel Fights While Trump Talks'.
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