Israel's Ambassador to U.S. refutes report on Netanyahu convincing Trump to launch Iran war

 

Israel's Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter pushed back against a New York Times report he described as inaccurate that detailed how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convinced U.S. President Donald Trump to launch a war against Iran.

Speaking with Face the Nation's Margeret Brennan, the ambassador said that "There's an awful lot in that article which simply isn't true, which is a narrative that's been very interesting narrative, but not accurate."

"This whole thing about the Prime Minister coming in and dragging the president into this, it's for publicity purposes," he argued. "I was in the room in that meeting. They were not."

Leiter also responded to the report's claim that the Israelis assessed that the regime would be so weakened that it would be unable to block the Strait of Hormuz, and deemed the likelihood of Iran attacking U.S. targets in neighboring countries as minimal.

"We didn't argue that," he said. "We argued the potential that we've got to work towards, that nothing was presented as a fact that if we do this, this will be the outcome."

The ambassador also commented on the cease-fire negotiations in Islamabad, saying that "We've been in lockstep from the beginning in the planning and the implementation, and we're going to end this thing together as well. We're completely supportive of the President's efforts, both diplomatically and militarily."

He said that the current halting of the negotiations may not be permanent, noting that there is still another week left in the cease-fire "for the potential for continued talks."

"We know the Iranians. We know this regime. We don't think they're going anywhere, but it's important to give it a chance," he says.

Leiter also addressed another aspect of the report, according to which, Mossad intelligence indicated that anti-regime protests in Iran would resume, and intensive bombings in the country could create the conditions for internal Iranian opposition to overthrow the Ayatollahs' regime. "The Mossad thought that, as we saw in January, hundreds of thousands and millions of people rise up," Leiter remarked. "The potential for that happening again is even greater now, and we still think it's very great. We still think we could that could materialize over the next couple of months."

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-security/2026-04-12/ty-article-live/.premium/jd-vance-iran-chose-not-to-accept-our-terms-as-u-s-talks-end-without-deal/0000019d-7f85-d68a-a39d-7fb7ff770000