President Trump's new era of Middle East peace is off to a rocky start, as Iran declared Saturday it has again closed the Strait of Hormuz. But at least the Trump Administration and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps agree on the culprit—Israel.
Tehran claims the U.S. is obliged to stop Israel from bombing Hezbollah, even as Hezbollah continues to kill Israeli soldiers and fire rockets and drones at civilians in northern Israel. Fighting calmed down on Sunday as Israel asked its military to reduce combat operations.
Iran insists the MOU requires that Mr. Trump treat Israel like an American proxy, though Israel is a sovereign democracy with a duty to its citizens to stop foreign bombardment.
Perhaps Iran got this idea from listening to Mr. Trump and his Vice President. “Israel is fighting Hezbollah too long,” Mr. Trump said last week, while declaring that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has no f— judgment” in how he responds to Hezbollah’s attacks.
JD Vance was even more threatening. “The Israelis—just like everybody else—have to respect this peace process that is fundamentally good for them and good for the entire region,” he said on Thursday.
Iran orchestrates these escalations to waste time, divide the U.S. and Israel, gain leverage and win immunity for its proxies. While Mr. Trump claims the regime’s new leaders are “far less radicalized,” and Mr. Vance says they want to “turn over a new leaf,” this seems like the same old Iranian regime we know and don’t love.
All of this skirmishing suggests that Iran believes it has the whip hand under the MOU. As a precondition for a final nuclear deal, Iran will demand total Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon without disarming Hezbollah.
Mr. Trump now finds himself in the position of attacking the best U.S. ally in the region for defending itself. Like Barack Obama, he risks becoming an apologist for Iran.
