U.S. Vice President JD Vance addressed reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu was furious over the emerging US-Iran agreement, stating that the conversations he has had with Netanyahu do not reflect such anger. Vance also emphasized that two-thirds of the defensive weapons protecting Israel over the last three months were built and paid for by the United States. He added: 'The problem for Israel is not Donald Trump.'
The message from Israel RealTime Updates, received shortly after midnight on Friday, June 19, carries a lengthy roundup of regional and diplomatic developments, centered on the emerging US-Iran memorandum of understanding. The key new element is Vice President JD Vance's direct public response to reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu is 'fuming' over the agreement.
Vance, quoted at length, rejected the notion of a major rift. 'I saw the Axios report that says Netanyahu is fuming. That's not reflective of the conversations that I've had with him,' he said. He also stressed the scale of American military aid: 'Over the last three months, two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected Israel have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars.' He then directly addressed Israeli critics, stating: 'The problem for Israel is not Donald Trump, and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the President of the US needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.'
The same message reports, citing Iranian, Lebanese, and regional sources, that Iran has informed Hezbollah it intends to increase funding 'as soon as possible' once its assets are unfrozen under the agreement. Analysts cited in the report note that Clause 11 of the framework may allow the US to unfreeze Iranian assets based on 'progress of negotiations,' potentially enabling Tehran to rebuild Axis of Resistance proxies during the 60-day negotiation period. The report also notes that Israel significantly degraded Hezbollah during the October 7 War, and that the collapse of the Assad regime disrupted Hezbollah's resupply network.
As The Zioneer has reported, the same thread has seen multiple developments in recent days: a June 14 report that Netanyahu told Trump Israel is not bound by the Lebanon clause, a June 15 report that Vance denied any frozen assets had been released, and a June 17 report in which Vance confirmed the MOU includes ending the war 'on all fronts.' Yesterday, June 18, Arab-Israeli journalist Yosef Haddad issued a warning that Iran had committed new funding to Hezbollah under the deal, and Vance himself escalated by stating that 'only world leader sympathetic to Israel now is Trump.' Today's message adds Vance's rebuttal of the notion of a personal feud and provides additional detail on the Iranian funding mechanism.
Also in the same message: Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced Israel is freezing all contact with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas over her alleged comparison of Israel to apartheid-era South Africa. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said Iran attacked all GCC countries and that rebuilding trust must come before economic cooperation, and added that Israel and the Palestinians must be part of any regional conversation. The message also reports, via Iraqi sources, that the US has linked economic support for Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaydi's government to conditions including disarming Iranian-backed militias. Each of these is a separate notable development but stems from a single roundup source; the current bulletin focuses on the Vance-Netanyahu dynamic, as the crown of the message and the primary newsworthy event for this candidate.
- StrongVance escalates: 'Only world leader sympathetic to Israel now is Trump'
- DevelopingVP Vance says Netanyahu does not criticize US-Iran deal because he knows its details
- StrongUS VP Vance says Netanyahu 'got something wrong,' signals daylight in Washington
- StrongVance: Many in Israel satisfied with emerging US-Iran deal
Source and signal
A single-sourced dispatch is never rated Confirmed or Strong. Its Signal strengthens only when a second, independent source corroborates it.
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