Netanyahu pushes for Iran conflict, clashing with Trump’s priorities

Netanyahu pushes for Iran conflict, clashing with Trump’s priorities The US president’s base opposes intervention in Iran while pro-Israel donors and hawks push for heightened US involvement. Washington, DC - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been warning of a grave Iranian threat to Israel and the world for more than 30 years. United States President Donald Trump heeded those warnings in June and bombed Tehran’s nuclear facilities. But it appears that Netanyahu is still not satisfied and will be pushing for more military actions against Iran when he returns to the US on Sunday to visit Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Recommended Stories list of 3 items list 1 of 3 Photos: Global stories of 2025 in pictures list 2 of 3 Israel says member of Iran’s IRGC among several killed in Lebanon strikes list 3 of 3 Iran’s government budget reveals tough road ahead as currency hits new low This time, the focus is on Iran’s missile programme. Israeli officials and their US allies are beating the drums of war against Iran once again, arguing that Tehran’s missiles must be addressed urgently. But analysts said another clash with Iran would stand in stark opposition to Trump’s stated foreign policy priorities. Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy think tank, said that while Trump is pushing to deepen economic cooperation and forge diplomatic ties between Israel and Arab states, Netanyahu is seeking military domination over the region. “This desire for perpetual US involvement, for perpetual wars against Iran to really break the Iranian state reflects Israel’s aim for unchallenged dominance, unchallenged hegemony and expansionism,” Toossi said. “And so I think that’s at the root of Netanyahu’s goals and the direction he wants to push the US into supporting, but that’s going to come to a head with US interests going in another direction and wanting more stability in the region that doesn’t necessitate direct American military involvement.” Since brokering a truce in Gaza, which Israel has been violating almost daily, Trump, who portrays himself as a peacemaker , has been claiming that he brought peace to the Middle East for the first time in 3,000 years. And his administration’s recently released National Security Strategy says the region is “emerging as a place of partnership, friendship, and investment” that is no longer a priority for the US. Shifting the goal posts As the US promises to diminish its military and strategic footprint in the Middle East, Israel appears to be lobbying for a war that could drag Washington into conflict. In past decades, Israel has drummed up Iran’s nuclear programme as the top threat to its security and the world. But Trump has been insisting that the US strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities in June wiped out the programme. Regardless of the accuracy of Trump’s assessment , his proclamation has pushed Israel to find another boogeyman, analysts said, to avoid contradicting the US president publicly. Trita Parsi, executive vice president at the Quincy...

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