A major opponent of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the emerging peace deal between the United States and Iran as talks progressed Monday.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid reprimanded an “old” and “tired” Netanyahu over the deal’s reported terms, which he did not specify.
“The emerging agreement with Iran is a disaster,” Lapid posted on X. “I supported the war in Iran from the very first moment, but the diplomatic management of the entire affair couldn’t have been worse. Everything that shouldn’t have happened—happened.”
“The current situation is the result of an ongoing governmental failure,” he wrote. “Benjamin Netanyahu is a man blessed with talents, but he has grown old and he has grown tired and he is surrounded by the least suitable people for running a country.”
Israel is not taking an active role in the negotiations. As talks continued in Qatar on Monday, the Israeli military intensified its airstrike campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iranian officials are concerned that the military action may jeopardize a peaceful outcome if Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, is targeted.
The terms of the potential agreement include reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping and creating a 60-day ceasefire that would open the door for discussions on restricting Tehran’s nuclear weapons program.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said he remains committed to impeding Iranian nuclear capabilities after speaking with President Donald Trump.
“President Trump and I agreed that any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear danger,” Netanyahu said. “That means dismantling Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites and removing its enriched nuclear material from its territory.”
Trump later announced that Iran would either hand over its stockpile of enriched uranium to the U.S. to be destroyed or have it done with international supervision.
Netanyahu added that Trump also understood that Israel needs to defend itself from Hezbollah in Lebanon. The statement preceded renewed Israeli airstrikes in the neighboring country to the north.
ISRAEL INTENSIFIES STRIKES ON HEZBOLLAH AS US-IRAN DIPLOMACY MAY FORCE LEBANON CEASEFIRE
Despite Trump’s support, Netanyahu is facing much scrutiny within his own country regarding the Iran war and the Gaza conflict before that. The prime minister and his party will likely face pressure as the Israeli legislative elections approach in late October.
Lapid’s Yesh Atid party is siding with fellow opposition leader Naftali Bennett’s eponymous group to challenge Netanyahu’s Likud party and unseat the prime minister himself by the end of the year.
