Haaretz: Trump wants to minimize his losses and end the war with Iran, and Israel is helpless
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper said on Friday that US President Donald Trump wants to reduce his losses and end the war on Iran, but Israel is unable to stop him.
Military analyst Amos Harel stated in an analysis on Haaretz, that at the moment, it seems that the war in the Gulf has begun to subside.
The short period that elapsed between the escalation initiated by President Trump by forcibly opening the Strait of Hormuz, and his announcement of suspending this step amid progress in the talks, is further evidence of Trump’s desire to end this phase.
He added: “It’s also possible that the speed with which Iran responded to the proposal to resume negotiations is a final reflection of the enormous pressure on its economy that is forcing the regime in Tehran to show flexibility”.
On Wednesday, Trump announced a temporary suspension of “Project Freedom,” which he launched on Monday, aimed at removing ships from neutral countries stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, claiming significant progress has been made toward reaching a comprehensive agreement with Iran.
Military analyst Harel noted Israel’s notable absence from developments in the past few days, explaining that this wasn’t a coincidence.
He noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video last Wednesday in which he explained that he was in full coordination with Trump, but the US president didn’t refer to Israel or Netanyahu in his recent statements.
Harel stated that Trump “wants to minimize his losses and end the war with Iran, but Israel is powerless to stop him”.
He said: “The military campaign began at the end of February with full coordination between the two countries, after Netanyahu’s strenuous efforts to convince Trump to take advantage of the momentum that followed the wave of widespread demonstrations that were brutally suppressed by the Tehran regime in January… Before the war is over, Trump still insists on making decisions on his own”.
He added: “According to some reports, Trump’s approach stems from tensions that arose between him and the Prime Minister… During Netanyahu’s last visit to the White House on February 11, he presented his host with a plan to accelerate the overthrow of the regime in Iran… However, the President’s aides weren’t convinced by it”.
He continued: “Ultimately, Trump didn’t agree to an Israeli proposal to encourage Kurdish militias, under the direction of Mossad (the Israeli intelligence agency), to invade Iran from the north and advance south to meet the protesters in Tehran”.
Harel claimed that the idea of regime change, which Netanyahu and Trump discussed repeatedly in the first week of the war, has been completely forgotten, just as Netanyahu’s promises to the Israeli people to achieve a complete victory in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon have been abandoned.
The total cost of Israel’s economic and military losses from the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and on Iran, will exceed a threshold by April 2026, according to estimates by the Bank of Israel.
