US Vice President JD Vance castigated Israeli officials on Thursday for not backing the US’s nuclear deal with Iran, accusing far-right cabinet ministers of lacking appreciation for American support, as he made the case for the newly signed memorandum of understanding at a White House press briefing.
“You have seen people within Bibi’s cabinet, who have come out and attacked the deal, and in some ways very personally attacked the president of the United States,” he told reporters, using a nickname for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he exempted from his explicit ire.
“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. And he happens to be the head of state of the world’s superpower,” Vance said.
“If I was 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.”
“The other thing that I would say is that over the last three months, two thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your homeland, have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars,” he said.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
“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,” Vance concluded.
The comments referred to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, far-right partners of Netanyahu who have both called for Israel to disregard the terms of the deal, describing it as a danger to the country’s security.
‘You can’t just kill your way out of solving every problem’
Earlier, Vance told The New York Times that he found “this whole freakout in Israel a little bit odd,” suggesting that concern over the deal came from unjustified mistrust of the US.
“It’s clear that large segments of the Israeli political system and population are very sensitive about this deal,” he said. “But I also think they’re picking up on some misinformation about the deal and running with it and sort of panicking about it.”
WATCH: JD Vance blasts Ben-Gvir and Smotrich:
You’ve seen people in their system, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, who’ve attacked the deal.
And I guess my response to them would be: What is your exact proposal?
You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t just kill your way out of… pic.twitter.com/S1V2bEwGBX
— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 18, 2026
Asked how he’d respond to the ministers, Vance said: “I guess my response to them would be: What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of nine million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.”
Left: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, January 16, 2025; Right: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, January 13, 2025. (Both photos by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed the MOU on Wednesday, two days earlier than originally envisioned.
With the deal in effect, Tehran obtained large-scale economic relief and agreed in principle to a subsequent dilution of its enriched uranium.
However, the MOU did not resolve any of the war goals declared by the US and Israel following their joint strikes that kicked off the war in February. Rather, it pushed off discussion of Iran’s nuclear program and other core issues to a 60-day negotiation period, which Vance said began on Thursday.
60-day clock starts
Some officials have suggested that the first round of talks will be held on Friday, with others sufficing with an unspecified time over the weekend.
Vance said that it’s difficult for Iranian officials to get out of the country, suggesting that the meeting may take more time to get together.
The vice president appeared to differentiate between technical talks and ones with the more political leaders — the latter of which he plans to attend.
He said he still plans to go to Switzerland this weekend for the talks, but that this could change.
US President Donald Trump (left) seen signing the Persian-language version of the memorandum of understanding with Iran, at the Palace of Versailles in France, June 17, 2026. (Screenshot/White House via X); Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signs the MOU in a photo released June 17, 2026, by the regime-run IRNA news agency. (IRNA via X)
The US and Iran have treated Israel as subject to the MOU, as well as to previous ceasefire agreements between the two states, even though Jerusalem – which launched the war against Iran together with the US on February 28 – was not included in the negotiations.
Netanyahu himself has avoided directly criticizing the agreement, and most government officials have refrained from explicit pushback.
In Lebanon, ‘both sides have to honor their…
Read the full article at The Times of Israel →
IL