ByAMICHAI STEIN

JUNE 15, 2026 09:03

Two Israeli operations over the past year have prompted a swift American drive for ceasefire pacts.

On September 9, 2025, amid Operation Summit of Fire in Qatar, an Israeli strike on senior Hamas figures in Doha produced a Gaza ceasefire weeks afterward along with the release of every Israeli hostage.

After the mission, US President Donald Trump decided an accord was essential. He pressed Israel along with Turkey and Qatar, which then delivered a firm signal to Hamas that the fighting must conclude.

Less than a year later, an Israeli strike on Sunday in Beirut's Dahiyeh district aimed at a Hezbollah command post sped up American efforts to convince Iran to accept a deal.

Tehran vowed retaliation against Israel, and the US president realized that an Israeli reply to any Iranian counterstrike might endanger talks on a memorandum between Tehran and Washington. He therefore ramped up pressure on Iran, with help from Qatar and Pakistan, to finalize an agreement.

In return, the pact calls for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen at once rather than in stages as first planned, plus limits on Israeli actions inside Lebanon.

It is still uncertain if Israel may respond only to Iranian strikes or also target Hezbollah rearmament. Most importantly, Iran secured a temporary end to sanctions on oil and petrochemical exports, a benefit it lacked before the conflict.

Trump has so far kept his call for Iran to abandon nuclear arms. Yet one key issue lingers: if the president avoided risking war 90 days before US midterms, will he do so with only 30 days left?

Regarding Israel, plans were advancing last Thursday for a major American attack on Iran and for the chance that Iran might renew strikes on Israel.

Trump declares US-Iran ceasefire

Then, during a security meeting called by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a small circle of ministers and top defense aides, Trump's statement came: "An agreement has been reached."

Netanyahu tried to calm the public by noting that Trump had stressed no deal would close without tackling Iran's nuclear ambitions, its proxy forces, and its missile stockpile.

Still, based on recent victory remarks from the US administration, Washington sees the hardest stage as finished.

In its eyes a major peace accord is now in place, and talks on remaining points can start with the assurance that Iran will stay non-nuclear. The chief win, from the administration's standpoint, is already secured.

Israeli officials also see that while US-Iran talks continue, and especially if a formal pact emerges, Israel's room to act against Iran, including its missile program, will shrink sharply.

Attention has therefore moved to Lebanon: will the IDF be free to strike only after Hezbollah attacks, or also to block the group's military recovery?

This morning senior Israeli figures feel frustrated. Criticism of the American administration runs deep, along with worry that a war launched to remove the Iranian regime may finish, at least for now, with that regime intact, steady, and again receiving financial inflows.

"Help is on the way," Netanyahu and Trump told the Iranian people at the start of the fighting. Yet for now the Iranian public stays on the sidelines. The Ayatollah regime exits the war alive, active, and still firmly in charge.