by Geoff Vasil

Last night the Israeli-American relationship was cast into doubt when Trump told the press he was about to call Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “tell” him not to respond to Iranian missile attacks on Israel.

Trump has gone back and forth for weeks now claiming he’s close to “a deal” with some group of Iranians on a peace plan. It’s fairly obvious the gangsters in the Islamic Republic have been goading and cajoling him on into some sort of idea of a peace plan, but that’s what Iran is best at, endless negotiations on a set of untenable principles.

It should be obvious to everyone watching that the best way to end the impasse with Iran is through military victory. They’re claiming some sort of sovereignty over the choke-point on world commerce, the Strait of Hormuz. They want Israel to stop bombing Hezbollah. They want war reparations from America. There are no common points for negotiation, but Trump keeps pretending there are. Even regarding nuclear enrichment.

Trump is being trapped by his “base,” by the hardcore of MAGA who voted for him, but were by no means the majority of voters who brought him back to power in 2024, who feel foreign entanglements, “endless wars” and especially a war with Iran don’t fit their vision of American renewal. They’ve been telling Trump for months now, take the victory, claim you’ve won and withdraw.

Israel doesn’t have that option. There is no withdrawal from a conflict with a regional bully who attacks all its neighbors and non-neighbors including Israel, Turkey, Cyprus and Azerbaijan. If the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the entire world suffers.

Last week Trump staged yet another démarche with Netanyahu, calling him “fucking crazy” and basically naming him responsible for fueling all anti-Semitism in the West. Former British prince Harry said more or less the same thing a week before. Trump confirmed the contents to Axios of the telephone call with Netanyahu he had leaked previously to Axios.

It’s clear Trump is in trouble politically. He failed to sell the war to the American people and to Congress, contradicting the practice of all previous US presidents. His lack of communication extends back to a year ago when he failed to make the case for releasing or not releasing all of the Epstein files. Nobody really knows what happened with Elon Musk, who was doing excellent television with his DOGE initiative, but then turned up literally with a back eye at some sort of chat with Trump talking about “moving on.” Joe Kent and Tulsi Gabbard fairly plainly left over disagreements on the Iran war, but no explanation. Pam Bondi was fired so Todd Blanche could continue the Epstein cover-up he initiated. The “Weaponization Fund” was announced to cover for Blanche’s firing of Ed Martin at Department of Justice who was doing real work unravelling the tawdry pattern of abuse by Democrats under president Biden.

Given the domestic situation in the USA and Trump’s failure to communicate to the American public, and his utter failure as America’s commander-in-chief, Israel isn’t left with a lot of options except to go it alone and do the best as they see fit. Whether America comes around to Israel’s position, or cancels credit as Bush Sr. once threatened, doesn’t matter that much in the final equation.

What’s crucial is the “win” in Iran which Trump has failed to achieve. Can another great or superpower deliver that win in the face of dwindling numbers of Iranian drones and missiles, or is this just too great of a task for the militarized world map of 2026? Essentially Iran has claimed sovereignty over Hormuz and thus all of the Persian Gulf, but no one has challenged that claim yet. Trump will continue to vacillate between nuking Iran and making nice with the new Ayatollah, but no one globally or domestically believes any of it anymore. The world is waiting for a new power to step up and take charge. Trump has squandered America’s greatness through fake negotiations and baseless threats. Now it’s up to someone else to free the world and Iran from Islamic fascism.

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author.