US Vice-President JD Vance has lashed out at Israeli critics of the Iran deal, saying US President Donald Trump is Israel's only ally, in a sharp rebuke that referenced the billions in American defence aid the country receives.
It comes as Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Mr Trump signed the deal "out of desperation" and signalled that upcoming talks over Iran's nuclear program — the US president's stated reason for starting the war — would not be easy.
"If the American side wants to be too demanding, we will not accept it," he said in a written message.
Mr Vance has defended the agreement reached this week to end the war with Iran that critics in the US and Israel have slammed for failing to curb Iran's missile program and providing no clear path to dismantling its nuclear facilities, while constraining Israel in its war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
The vice-president, asked at a White House news briefing about a report that Benjamin Netanyahu was fuming over the agreement, said he had not heard such comments from the Israeli prime minister but criticised members of the Israeli leader's cabinet, who he said have attacked the deal and Mr Trump.
"My message to them would be twofold. Number one: Donald J Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time," Mr Vance said.
"If I were in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world."
He said he would also remind those cabinet members that two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected Israel "have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars".
The United States provides Israel with roughly $US4 billion ($5.7b) in military assistance a year, but the two countries are negotiating a new aid agreement.
"The problem for Israel is not Donald J Trump and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in," Mr Vance said.
Mr Netanyahu's office and Israel's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has harshly rebuked the US-Iran deal and insisted Israeli troops would remain in Lebanon.
Mr Vance criticised Mr Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a New York Times interview released earlier on Thursday, local time.
"What is your exact proposal? You're a country of 9 million people. You can't just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have," Mr Vance said.
"I find this whole freak-out in Israel a little bit odd because I think that it comes from a place of mistrust, and I think that America has earned the trust of that region of the world."
Mr Ben-Gvir responded to Mr Vance's remarks on X, saying, "This is the proposal … To deal with the Nazis of the 21st century, just as the United States dealt with the Nazis of the 20th century."
Mr Trump, in a social media post after Mr Vance's remarks on Thursday, said he encouraged everyone in the Middle East to maintain their commitment to allowing negotiations to take place.
"We expect a complete Ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel," Mr Trump wrote.
Oil flows through Hormuz, strikes in Lebanon
About 12.5 million barrels of crude oil sailed through the Strait of Hormuz overnight, Mr Vance said, hours after the US signed the ceasefire deal with Iran.
Markets responded quickly to the news. Benchmark Brent crude futures prices fell by another 2 per cent to below $US78 a barrel, the lowest since the fighting began on February 28.
But shippers say it will still take time for transit across the strait to return to pre-war levels, with a need to ensure safe access and clear mines.
JD Vance says millions of barrels' worth of oil have passed through the Strait of Hormuz. ( Reuters: Amirhosein Khorgooi )
In Lebanon, where more than 1 million people are displaced by the fighting, Israeli forces launched fresh air strikes early on Thursday, local time, raising doubt about how far Mr Trump will go to force his wartime allies to halt an offensive he has now pledged to end.
Israel, which launched an invasion of Lebanon in March and has since seized a large swathe of the south in pursuit of Hezbollah militants who opened fire across the border in support of Iran, was excluded from the negotiations.
Iran has always said any peace deal must also cover Lebanon. In an apparent major concession to Iran, the memorandum signed by Mr Trump explicitly calls for the "permanent termination" of the war in Lebanon and for its "territorial integrity and sovereignty" to be ensured.
Lebanon, which has been battered by clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, is specifically included in the memorandum. ( Reuters: Zohra Bensemra )
With Lebanon among the peace effort's most de…
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