Now a Clash of Interests: Trump Needs to End the War, Netanyahu Needs Escalation to Survive

As clashes between Israel and Iran have recently intensified, discord between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is mounting.

According to the British daily The Guardian on June 8, local time, the two leaders launched a joint war against Iran on February 28, but their interests began to diverge as the swift victory and Iranian regime change promised by Israel became difficult to achieve.

In particular, the exchange of missile strikes between Israel and Iran over the two days starting the previous day demonstrated that the current stalemate between war and peace is inherently unstable.

At the same time, it clearly highlighted the differences in opinion regarding the war and the complex conflict between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, who hold the fate of a precarious ceasefire in their hands.

Even after the ceasefire in April, Israel continued its attacks targeting Hezbollah, the pro-Iranian armed group in Lebanon.

As this pushed the peace talks between the U.S. and Iran to the brink of collapse, President Trump was reportedly "furious" with Prime Minister Netanyahu and urged him to refrain from airstrikes.

However, despite President Trump's warnings, Israel launched airstrikes on the previous day against Dahieh, a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut known as a key stronghold of Hezbollah.

In response, Iran retaliated by firing 11 ballistic missiles targeting northern Israel, calling it a retaliatory measure for the Beirut airstrikes, prompting Israel to immediately launch a counterattack against Iran.

The military clash between the two sides has temporarily halted on this day, after President Trump claimed "I call all the shots" in the peace negotiations and demanded that "Israel and Iran must immediately stop 'shooting'."

However, The Guardian pointed out that this latest clash once again demonstrated that Prime Minister Netanyahu is ready to take independent action at any time.


President Trump sought to suppress any sparks of conflict between Israel and Iran to prevent the peace talks between the U.S. and Iran from being disrupted.

However, President Trump backed down ahead of Israel's retaliatory airstrikes, which the U.S. daily Wall Street Journal (WSJ) analyzed as a sign of his weakening control over the war.

According to officials cited by the WSJ, President Trump called Prime Minister Netanyahu on the previous day as the Israeli leader was deliberating how to respond to Iran's consecutive missile attacks, delivering a message to refrain from striking back.

However, once it became clear that Prime Minister Netanyahu would not let it slide, President Trump reportedly changed his tone, telling him to "keep the response limited and avoid escalation."

Some analysts also suggest that the respective political pressures faced by President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu are driving them further apart.

For President Trump, who faces the midterm elections this coming November, ending a war that is unpopular in the U.S. and has driven up oil prices is his top priority.

With inflation already hitting ordinary voters, criticism has begun to emerge even within President Trump's core support base that national resources are being wasted on unnecessary foreign wars.

On the other hand, Israel is focused on defeating a resurgent Hezbollah armed with advanced drones, and hopes to continue airstrikes against Iran to further weaken the Iranian regime.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, facing the Knesset (parliamentary) elections this October, is attempting to rally the right wing by projecting the image of a strong leader who has significantly improved Israel's security landscape.

He also desperately needs to extend his time in power to deflect personal corruption charges, responsibility for security failures that allowed the infiltration of Palestinian militants, and allegations of war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip.

Danny Citrinowicz, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv, explained to the WSJ: "Trump wants to end the war with a deal that can ease the pressure on the oil market and global consumers, but Israel is still holding onto the hope that this war can end with Iran's surrender."

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.