Why Isn’t The US And Israel On The Same Page Over How To Deal With Iran?
- Meir Javedanfar
- 17 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The New York Times recently reported that Israel was preparing to strike the nuclear installations of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). Israel believes that the IRI is currently more vulnerable than ever before, due to the loss of Hezbollah and the weakening of its air defenses, contrasting with the current US position, which believes that diplomacy with the IRI should be given a chance.
If Israel were to attack Iran's nuclear program in the middle of talks between the Trump administration and the IRI, it would undermine Israel’s interests in several key areas.
Why it matters
Israeli attacks on Iran could seriously undermine Israel’s relations with the US.
A unilateral Israeli attack that is not coordinated with the US could cost the lives of thousands of Israeli citizens because Israel does not have sufficient capability to bring down the multitude of missiles fired from Iran. Direct support from the US and other countries is vital, as witnessed during Iran’s missile and drone attacks against Israel in April and October 2024.
An attack may undermine the possibility of a nuclear agreement with the IRI that could potentially serve Israel’s interests. The IRI leadership is in a very precarious position at home. Electricity shortages are ravaging the production capacity of key products such as cement, thus pushing inflation even higher. They are also infuriating Iran's population.
Iranians are fed up
Meanwhile, truck drivers in more than 100 Iranian cities have gone on strike, crippling Iran's economy even more. Despite the arrest of several leading drivers in the strike campaign, the strikes continue, causing a pileup of goods, some of which are perishable.
Read more: Why Does Iran Hate Israel? The absence of these goods on the market has added inflationary pressures. There are also reports of the rise in bread prices due to soaring costs. These developments mean that the IRI leadership is very susceptible to pressure. The time to at least try and find a negotiated settlement to the IRI's nuclear program is now.
Is there a diplomatic solution for Iran?
The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, illustrates the advantages of finding a diplomatic solution.
In the past, Iran had lied. For many years, it claimed that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only, and that it had never undertaken any nuclear military activity. As the documents smuggled from Iran in 2018 and a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) show, in the early 2000s, Iran had undertaken secret activities related to making a bomb.
Back then, the level of nuclear inspection in Iran was minimal. This all changed, thanks to the JCPOA. Consequently, Iran’s nuclear program was the most inspected in the world by the IAEA.
As IAEA reports and documents smuggled out of Iran in 2018 by the Mossad showed, between the start of the deal in January 2016 and the US leaving the deal in May 2018, the IRI did not cheat. It only started to enrich uranium at levels above what it had agreed to in the JCPOA after the U.S left the deal.
Israel should wait for Trump’s efforts to find a diplomatic solution and hope that he succeeds. No US President would want to see a nuclear-armed Iran as his legacy.
Dr. Meir Javedanfar is an Iranian-Israeli lecturer, author, and commentator. He teaches various Iran-related courses at Reichman University in Herzliya, Israel.
His X handle @Meirja.