JERUSALEM (Reuters) – In launching ​renewed strikes on Iran on Monday in apparent open defiance of Donald Trump, Israel has tried to make its case to have a say at ‌the peace negotiating table, where it has so far been kept at arm’s length by the US president.
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Despite Trump publicly calling for Israel to hold fire, it struck targets in Iran for the first time since a ceasefire in April, after Iran fired missiles at Israel in what Tehran said was retaliation for Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s capital.
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Israel and Iran both called a halt to the exchange on Monday shortly after Trump told ​them to stop shooting, although they each left the door open to a possible resumption.
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But in launching the strikes, Israel had sent a message to Washington that no ​final agreement with Iran can be reached if Israel’s interests are ignored, said Danny Orbach, a military historian at Israel’s Hebrew University.
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“Because if â it tramples too heavily on Israeli interests, Israel can overturn the table.”
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TRUMP EXCLUDES ISRAEL FROM NEGOTIATIONS
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Trump, who launched the war alongside Israel in February, has been trying to reach a negotiated ​settlement with Iran, while excluding Israel from those talks.
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He has publicly prodded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from actions that could scupper the talks, including by holding fire in Lebanon, ​ which Israel invaded in March in pursuit of the Iran-aligned Hezbollah movement.
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Iran says it will not agree to any peace deal with Washington unless a ceasefire also holds in Lebanon.
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Last week Netanyahu called off airstrikes on Beirut after a phone call with Trump. Trump later confirmed he had called the Israeli leader “fucking crazy” in the heated exchange, although he also said they still get along well.
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Netanyahu’s domestic critics accused him of effectively ​surrendering sovereignty by restricting Israeli military actions to sustain US negotiations, without a seat at the table.
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ISRAEL SEEKS TO RETAIN ABILITY TO ATTACK IN LEBANON
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After Israel’s strike on Lebanon on Sunday, ​and Iran’s decision to fire at Israel in response, Trump made clear he believed that should be the end of the matter.
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“Each of them had their fun,” he told the Axios website. “Israel had its ‌strike and Iran â had its strike. We don’t need another one,” Trump said.
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But Israel concluded that only by striking Iran itself in response could it establish that Iran should not be granted future say over Israeli actions in Lebanon.
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Israel could not accept a scenario in which Iranian strikes on Israel were considered a justifiable “tit-for-tat response” to Israeli strikes on Lebanon, a senior Israeli defence official told Reuters.
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Before deciding to strike Iran, Netanyahu convened a meeting of top security and defence officials to discuss goals of a potential short-term escalation, according to the senior defence official and two other ​Israeli officials familiar with the deliberations.
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One goal was ​to establish that any future US-Iran â deal would not remove Israel’s right to attack Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and keep its troops deployed there, the senior defence official said.
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Netanyahu had raised this consideration in weekend phone calls with Trump, the senior defence official said.
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In a brief video statement carried by Israeli television channels ​on Monday night, after Israel and Iran agreed to halt fire, Netanyahu said Israel would respond with force if Iran attacks it again.
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“I ​say this to you,” â Netanyahu said to the Israeli public, “as I say it with appreciation and respect in my good conversations with my friend President Trump.”
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ISRAEL CANNOT SUSTAIN LONG IRAN AIR CAMPAIGN ALONE, ANALYSTS SAY
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The brief resumption of Israel-Iran fighting and Netanyahu’s defiance of Trump’s demands are the latest episode to lay bare the strains that have at times emerged between the two conservative leaders.
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In private, Netanyahu has acknowledged difficulty influencing Trump’s â thinking on ​Iran, telling aides he has “no manoeuvre” to steer the president’s decision-making.
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But although Israel has the capability to strike Iran ​without US support, it would still need Washington’s blessing and support to sustain such an air campaign for more than a few weeks, say military experts.
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“There’s no doubt that Israel (cannot) go alone in this war for a long, ​long time, because (the) ammunition is consumable,” said Yehoshua Kalisky, a senior researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.