Did Netanyahu really ‘defy’ Trump in bombing Iran?

The latest flare-up in hostilities between Israel and Iran has exposed what some observers say is the most significant crack yet in the relationship between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United States President Donald Trump , revealing increasingly divergent interests between the two world leaders.

The pair once appeared politically inseparable, with Netanyahu describing Trump as the “greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House”. Trump returned the praise. During a 2025 appearance in Israel, he joked, “He’s not easy – not the easiest guy to deal with – but that’s what makes him great.”

Trump is no longer joking. Last week, he reportedly called Netanyahu “f***ing crazy” during a phone call, accused him of undermining US diplomacy and warned that Israel’s military escalation risked derailing peace talks with Iran.

The tensions became apparent when Iran launched a volley of missiles towards northern Israel on Sunday, following an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on June 7 – despite US assurances just days before that this would not happen. The missile attack, the first by Iran since a fragile, Pakistan-brokered ceasefire reached two months earlier between the US and Iran, threatened to unravel months of negotiations.

“He will have no choice,” Trump told the Financial Times when asked about the likelihood of Netanyahu approving a possible peace agreement with Iran. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots.”

Iran and Israel have since halted attacks on one another. But the confrontation has left Netanyahu politically constrained, squeezed between pressure from Washington to de-escalate and demands from far-right government ministers urging him to continue the war on Iran and Lebanon, even without US backing. Analysts say that is a position Israel cannot sustain for long.

Ultimately, observers say, the two leaders are driven by their own political interests which are on a collision course. In the US, the war with Iran is deeply unpopular, so Trump needs to reach a deal with Iran to end the war. Netanyahu, on the other hand, could benefit politically at home if it were to continue.

In fact, as soon as Trump and Netanyahu jointly launched missile strikes on Iran at the end of February, their objectives began to drift apart.