Who should Joe Biden trust more: Iran’s Ayatollah or Benjamin Netanyahu?
Under normal bilateral circumstances, such a call could easily be made by any senior official in any U.S. government. But on Sunday, a spokesman for the President’s National Security Council disputed the issue, echoing months of uncertainty about the Israeli prime minister’s true intentions.
When asked on NBC whether Biden trusted Netanyahu’s judgment, John Kirby would only say that the United States would “continue to work with him, advise him… and help them defend themselves” “.
The U.S. leader’s lack of trust in Israel’s opponents is self-evident, but was made abundantly clear during months of intense conflict in the Gaza Strip after Hamas launched a brutal attack on Israel last October.
Imagine Biden suddenly relying on two of the world’s most unfettered international players to… exercise restraint.
But that’s how the president found himself at the start of a new week, having witnessed the events he both expected and feared.
After Israel attacked the Iranian consulate annex in Damascus on April 1, Tehran launched a retaliatory attack, bringing the region and the world to a dangerous crossroads.
Either that leads to an all-out war between the two countries, or, as the White House fervently hopes, Iran’s foreign minister is telling the truth when he claims that “Iran has no intention of continuing its defensive operations.”
Of course, there is a caveat in the statement issued by Hussein Amir Abdullahian. “Iran will not hesitate to protect its legitimate interests from any new aggression if necessary,” he said.
This is why the United States publicly warned Netanyahu not to consider further escalating the conflict.
Phone calls between Washington and Tel Aviv on Saturday night were reportedly heated, with Netanyahu and several other Israeli officials insisting that 150 unmanned aircraft carrying explosives were reportedly sent in the direction of Israel. Israel must crack down hard on Iran after destroying planes and multiple ballistic missiles.
But in those calls and in public appearances since, the White House’s message to Netanyahu was: “Cool me.” Washington has urged the Israeli leader to embrace the success of a military strategy that has seen nearly all of Iran’s explosives reach their targets. Countries have been intercepted before.
The US president wants G7 leaders, including Rishi Sunak, to support him in pressuring Netanyahu to win first and then step down.
Asked on ABC News whether an attack by Iran would lead to a broader war in the region, Kirby responded: “The president doesn’t think it needs to go in that direction anyway.”
He went a step further and educated the Israeli authorities on how to capture the high ground.
“Israel demonstrated an extraordinary ability to defend itself last night,” Kirby said. “Their own military superiority was so significant… that few succeeded and the losses were very light.”
In American diplomatic parlance, this soft soap opera is called an “attaboy.” Publicly congratulate a foreign leader and then insist that his government take a position demanded by the United States.
Biden must now hope that Netanyahu wins plaudits and withdraws his threats to resort to more force.
In many ways, this is the moment Biden has been waiting for. His failure for weeks to publicly break with Netanyahu over the Israeli prime minister’s relentless assault on Gaza has further jeopardized his standing with many American voters.
Biden is under increasing pressure to emulate his Democratic colleague, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who last month called the Israeli leader an “obstacle to peace.” and urged the country to hold new elections.
But the White House insists Biden needs to keep some political and diplomatic powder on the table lest Iran or its Hezbollah proxies in neighboring Lebanon open a second front.
Biden’s strategy will now be tested, with the stakes high for a president whose reelection prospects have been dimmed by the evaporation of support among grassroots Democrats who resent his failure to take a tougher approach against growing numbers of civilians. The position was outraged. Death toll in Gaza.
There was no room for him to make any more mistakes. Former President Donald Trump insists — without explanation — that the crisis would not have happened had he still been sitting in the Oval Office.
Trump retweeted a 2018 social media message directed at then-Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, ranting: “We are no longer a country that tolerates your insane rhetoric of violence and death.”
Some famous trump supporter Tell Biden that the United States should attack Tehran now.
The president considers himself the only adult in the room, and the White House has dismissed Republican criticism of his policies as unnecessarily hawkish and belligerent.
But he now also relies on two deeply unreliable overseas governments to embrace his vision and avoid dragging the region into what he considers to be a completely unnecessary war.
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