Trump and Netanyahu are clashing over how to end the Iran War

President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the war against Iran with an unprecedented level of coordination. Now three months later, they are fighting over how to bring the conflict to a close.

Trump wants a diplomatic agreement that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, dispose of Iran’s enriched uranium, and end a conflict that has driven up energy prices and divided his political base. Netanyahu faces pressure at home to intensify military operations against Hezbollah.

“As I told Iran, ‘it’s time, one way or another, for you to make a deal. You’ve been doing this for 47 years, and it cannot be allowed to go on any longer,’” President Trump said, referencing the Islamic regime’s rule.

Secretary of State Marco ⁠Rubio when testifying before Congress on Tuesday said that Iran had “agreed” to negotiate certain aspects of the nuclear program. “They have agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear program that just a month ago, just a year ago, they were refusing to even mention,” he said.

By contrast, on Monday, Esmaeil Baghaei, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said “no negotiations [have taken place] at this stage on the details of the nuclear issue,” according to Iranian state media.

Providing additional updates, Rubio said “there are indications” that Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “increasingly engaging, at some level” with negotiations. Khamenei hasn’t been seen in public since he succeeded his late father early on in the Iran war.

Rubio also told Congress that ​Iran has not been offered sanctions relief from the Trump Administration in exchange for ‌reopening the ‌Strait of Hormuz. The US looks to still have leverage in the negotiations that are taking place now.

But the US and Israel have differing focuses, thresholds for war, and domestic political pressures that make complete coordination on the issue of Iran difficult to impossible.

Israel is much more likely to prefer a longer term war that allows them to slowly and methodically degrade the Iranian regime, something that will be more politically costly for the Trump administration.

The Trump administration has undoubtedly communicated this to Netanyahu, but working out the details of what to do next, with another actor, Iran, also having an impact on this, will be a long a difficult process.