{"id":7303,"date":"2026-06-16T16:36:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/16\/israel-went-to-war-with-iran-but-netanyahu-may-be-the-loser\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T16:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:36:17","slug":"israel-went-to-war-with-iran-but-netanyahu-may-be-the-loser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/16\/israel-went-to-war-with-iran-but-netanyahu-may-be-the-loser\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel went to war with Iran, but Netanyahu may be the loser"},"content":{"rendered":"<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p data-start=\"115\" data-end=\"300\">The headline strapped across the front page of the Israeli news site Haaretz on Tuesday summed up the feelings of many: \u201cThe Iran Fiasco Is Netanyahu\u2019s Biggest Failure Since October 7\u201d.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"302\" data-end=\"500\">After three and a half months of a stuttering war with Iran, Israel\u2019s foremost ally, the United States, has brokered an interim agreement without, it appears, any input from Israel.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/16\/trump-warns-all-hell-will-rain-down-if-iran-tries-to-get-a-nuclear-weapon\">Trump tells Netanyahu to be \u2018more responsible with respect to Lebanon\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/gallery\/2026\/6\/16\/families-return-to-shattered-towns-as-fragile-ceasefire-holds-in-lebanon\">Families return to shattered towns as fragile ceasefire holds in Lebanon<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/16\/geneva-to-host-iran-us-deal-event-what-other-pacts-have-been-signed-there\">Geneva to host Iran-US deal event: What other pacts have been signed there?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2026\/6\/16\/theres-divergence-between-us-and-israeli-objectives-in-the\">\u2018There\u2019s divergence between US and Israeli objectives in the region\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p data-start=\"302\" data-end=\"500\">Instead, the Iranian state, which Israel\u2019s politicians have for decades cast as an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/20\/five-problems-the-iran-war-could-solve-for-israels-netanyahu\">existential threat<\/a>, is still standing, and, through its control over the Strait of Hormuz, arguably more powerful than before.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"302\" data-end=\"500\">Closer to home, Israel\u2019s ability to continue its military operations in Lebanon, which it claimed was necessary to protect against rocket fire from the Iran-allied Lebanese group Hezbollah, must now be weighed against its potential to cause problems between the US and Iran ahead of the agreement\u2019s signing, expected later this week.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"mass-opposition\">Mass opposition<\/h2>\n<p>Opposition to the deal in Israel has come from both the centre and the far right.<\/p>\n<p>Gadi Eisenkot, a centrist who is one of the favourites to oust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/20\/israeli-lawmakers-advance-bill-to-dissolve-parliament\">elections<\/a> later this year, was unsparing in his criticism of the Israeli leader and the US-Iran deal.<\/p>\n<p>Eisenkot blasted what he described as \u201cthe dismal outcome of a failed government\u201d, pointing to what he characterised as the \u201cvast gulf\u201d between Netanyahu\u2019s \u201cempty promises of total victory\u201d and the outline of what the agreement between the US and Iran will stipulate.<\/p>\n<p>Far-right members of Netanyahu\u2019s coalition government \u2013 namely, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich \u2013 have been <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2026\/6\/15\/what-israeli-leaders-are-saying-about-us-iran-peace\">typically uncompromising<\/a>, with a possible eye on the elections. \u201cWe must not act according to the agreements between Trump and [Mojtaba] Khamenei,\u201d Ben-Gvir said in reference to the US and Israeli leaders, while Smotrich called it a \u201cbad deal\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Netanyahu, having spent years pushing for a war with Iran and popularising it in Israel, knows that ending the conflict is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/10\/netanyahu-caught-between-the-us-lebanon-war-and-iran-ceasefire\">unpopular domestically<\/a>. The prime minister has gone to considerable pains to put as much distance between himself and what he called \u201cTrump\u2019s decision\u201d to end the war while simultaneously claiming to have been an equal partner with the US in waging it.<\/p>\n<p>Shrugging off what critics claimed was Israel\u2019s calamitous position ahead of the agreement\u2019s signing later this week, Netanyahu instead claimed success, telling a press conference on Monday: \u201cWe removed, for years to come, this danger hanging over us of the elimination of Israel\u2019s population,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is what we did. We saved the State of Israel from annihilation,\u201d he continued, offering an uncannily accurate echo of his claims after the June 2025 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/6\/26\/visualising-12-days-of-the-israel-iran-conflict\">12-day war with Iran<\/a>, when he said that he had secured Israel a \u201chistoric victory\u201d over Iran that would \u201cabide for generations\u201d.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4624161\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4624161\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-06-03T160104Z_1722566967_RC2KQIAFVKD7_RTRMADP_3_IRAN-CRISIS-ISRAEL-TRUMP-1780504697.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C523&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump points his finger towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they shake hands during a press conference after meeting at Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 29, 2025. REUTERS\/Jonathan Ernst\/File Photo\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4624161\">US President Donald Trump points his finger towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they shake hands during a press conference after meeting at Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida in the US [File: Jonathan Ernst\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt is not playing well, and the claims are not credible,\u201d former Israeli government adviser Daniel Levy told Al Jazeera. \u201cThe assumption was that if you pull America into a war, then it is a given that Iran will be crushed and that things Israel cannot achieve in terms of regime destruction and Iranian capitulation can be achieved by America,\u201d he said, noting that this has not been the case.<\/p>\n<p>Levy continued, pointing to how Israeli expectations of how the war might play out were shaped by the country\u2019s own view of itself within the region. \u201cThe assumption itself is infused with colonial racism and Israeli hubris,\u201d he said. \u201cThe notion that Iran could possibly outsmart, out-strategise, and gain leverage was not on the agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"iran-on-top\">Iran on top?<\/h2>\n<p>Much of the conversation within Israel has been centred on Iran\u2019s status as a regional power, but also as a potential nuclear power, after the conclusion of the war.<\/p>\n<p>US President Donald Trump has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/16\/trump-warns-all-hell-will-rain-down-if-iran-tries-to-get-a-nuclear-weapon\">insisted<\/a> that Iran will never gain nuclear weapons. However, it remains unclear how the US intends to persuade Iran to surrender its stockpiles of enriched uranium after a war that many Iranians believe they won, particularly given the economic fallout from the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNetanyahu inflicted on Israel a strategic catastrophe,\u201d said Ahron Bregman, a senior teaching fellow in the Department for War Studies at King\u2019s College London. \u201cHe initiated a war with Iran which aimed to topple its regime, but the regime is still standing and it is [more] radical than before. Iran will rebuild its missile arsenal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also uncertain is how long Israel can rely on US support for its continuing invasion of Lebanon. Iran has long made a cessation of Israeli attacks on Lebanon a condition of any agreement to end the war. But Netanyahu has claimed that the agreement between the US and Iran does not extend to Israel\u2019s own freedom of movement in Lebanon, creating what analysts say could be an obstacle to any ceasefire, as well as a growing source of fiction between Israel and its sponsors in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Trump sought to emphasise those differences, saying that he was \u201cnot happy\u201d with Israel\u2019s conduct in Lebanon, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/liveblog\/2026\/6\/16\/iran-war-live-trump-says-mou-with-tehran-signed-electronically\">adding that Netanyahu had to be \u201cmore responsible\u201d<\/a> when it came to Israel\u2019s neighbour to the north.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4665821\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4665821\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2276029086-1781589830.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C513&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"Hormuz\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4665821\">An Iranian flag flutters in the wind as ships remain anchored on May 16, 2026 in the Strait of Hormuz near Larak Island, Iran [File: Majid Saeedi\/Getty Images].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cLebanon will be the spark, the trigger to forthcoming rounds of blows between Israel and Iran,\u201d Bregman suggested. \u201cWill the US join Israel to fight Iran again? I doubt any US president with a shred of common sense will attempt any war with Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGeography is on Iran\u2019s side, and it is an economic nuclear bomb which the Iranians will use again without hesitation,\u201d he concluded, referring to the Strait of Hormuz and Iran\u2019s ability to stop oil from passing through it.<\/p>\n<p>Netanyahu remains Israel\u2019s longest-serving prime minister, and few are willing to count him out ahead of this year\u2019s elections. But history\u2019s verdicts on his latest regional adventures are beginning to coalesce, Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador and consul general in New York, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe now finds himself coming into an election carrying the disaster of October 7 [2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel], failure in Lebanon, and a catastrophic war against Iran behind him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUltimately, Netanyahu is being seen as a man who was given the opportunity of a lifetime and squandered it. He finally had everything in his favour: a US president, Iran alone and without allies, and a military and technological advantage, and he blew it,\u201d Pinkas said. \u201cFor 30 years, he\u2019s been talking about this and, when it came to it, he blew it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s right that he\u2019s changed the political landscape of the Middle East. He\u2019s done so in Iran\u2019s favour.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The headline strapped across the front page of the Israeli news site Haaretz on Tuesday summed up the feelings of many: \u201cThe Iran Fiasco Is Netanyahu\u2019s Biggest Failure Since October 7\u201d. After three and a half months of a stuttering war with Iran, Israel\u2019s foremost ally, the United States, has brokered an interim agreement without, &#8230; <a title=\"Israel went to war with Iran, but Netanyahu may be the loser\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/16\/israel-went-to-war-with-iran-but-netanyahu-may-be-the-loser\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Israel went to war with Iran, but Netanyahu may be the loser\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}