Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Monday for his country's forces to remain in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria "for as long as necessary," hours after a deal was announced between Iran and the U.S. to end the Middle East war.
In his first public comments on the memorandum of understanding reached between the U.S. and Iran, Netanyahu said Israel will continue to keep troops in what he called a "security zone" as long as necessary.
"We have established strengthened security zones around Israel. We did this in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, and we will remain in these security zones as long as necessary to protect our country," he told a press conference.
"Regarding Lebanon, we established a buffer zone, a security zone, and we will remain there for as long as necessary," he added.
Netanyahu claimed that Iran had sought an Israeli withdrawal from those areas, but "that did not happen," adding that he believed "our American friends respect that."
He also said Israel was still unaware of the precise terms of the memorandum reached between Washington and Tehran.
"We do not yet know what the agreement between Washington and Tehran will look like," Netanyahu said.
The Israeli premier also claimed that the removal of the Iranian regime was not one of the goals of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
"I did not say that one of the goals of the operation was to overthrow the regime," he said, alleging that the objective was "to create conditions" that could lead to its ouster.
On Sunday, the U.S. and Iran, with Pakistani mediation, announced that they had reached a deal aimed at ending the conflict that began after the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. The deal is set to be signed in Switzerland on Friday.
The memorandum is expected to formalize a cease-fire and launch a 60-day period of technical negotiations between Washington and Tehran on implementing its provisions.
Denouncing the deal
Meanwhile, Israelis from across the political spectrum reacted angrily to the news of an initial deal between the U.S. and Iran , calling it a disaster for Israel and directing their fury at Netanyahu.
At a news conference, he, however, said that "with an agreement (or) without an agreement," he would continue fighting to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
"As long as I am the prime minister of Israel, it will not happen," Netanyahu said.
But other Israeli government officials, rivals, politicians and commentators were quick to criticize the preliminary deal between the U.S. and Iran, marking a sort of informal referendum on the premier's tenure ahead of elections this fall and underscoring his deepening isolation at home, in the region and, increasingly, from the U.S.
Critics say Netanyahu led U.S. President Donald Trump into the war with Iran while overpromising what it could achieve, and Trump now might be dragging Israel out of the conflict before it feels ready. They say the prime minister misjudged Trump's appetite for a protracted conflict, was outflanked by Iran in negotiations and grew increasingly sidelined by the region's other major players.
"Israel is paying the price of Netanyahu's hubris and blindness, and the price of the manipulations that he tried to pull on Trump," former Prime Minister and Netanyahu rival Ehud Barak said in an interview with Israel's public broadcaster Monday.
'Can no longer fix it'
"Iran emerged stronger; Israel emerged weaker. That is Netanyahu's strategic responsibility. He failed."
Yair Lapid, who will challenge Netanyahu in the upcoming elections, wrote Sunday that the deal, which would extend the tenuous cease-fire between the U.S. and Iran and lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, was shaping up to be "one of the most shocking failures in Israel's foreign and security policy ... entirely registered in Netanyahu's name."
"It can be fixed, it must be fixed," he wrote. "Netanyahu can no longer fix it, we will do it."
Even though Israel isn't party to the deal, it finds itself in something of a quagmire, in part because it invaded southern Lebanon after Iran-backed Hezbollah fired missiles at northern Israeli towns during the first week of the war.
Since negotiations began, Iran has insisted that any deal to wind down the U.S.-Iran front include a cessation of Israeli hostilities in Lebanon.
But on Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to retain troops in Lebanon.
As negotiations progressed and Trump increasingly sought a way out of war, he grew furious over Israel's strikes in Beirut, warning they could jeopardize an agreement. In the end, the president decided to end the Iran conflict, even if it curtailed Israel's options in Lebanon.
That has left Netanyahu in a precarious situation. His relationship with Trump may require downscaling a military campaign in Lebanon that is widely popular in Israel.
"All Hezbollah has to do is get one rocket across into an Isr…
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