Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump at the White House April 7, 2025 (White House)
Michael Oren: A Time for Intimacy
As Israel gets ready to respond to any US-Iran deal, now is the time to enter into an intimate discussion with the White House about protecting our future security.
As of this writing, it is still unclear whether President Trump will authorize another major round of combat against Iran or whether he will forge an agreement with the Islamic Republic not dissimilar to the nuclear agreement signed by President Obama in 2015. However, Israel must prepare for both scenarios and be ready to respond to any US-Iranian deal.
As in 2015, Israel must express deep appreciation for our most important ally while at the same time noting that its agreement with Tehran does not bind us. We must declare in no uncertain terms that we reserve the right—and indeed the duty—to defend ourselves against any threat or combination of threats in the Middle East. We must, moreover, continue our fight against Hezbollah.
Beyond this decisive declaration, though, there are many actions that Israel must urgently and quietly take. We must enter into an intimate discussion with the White House about the best way to protect our future security.
That was the approach Israel took after the 2015 deal. As the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, I wrote a position paper for Netanyahu’s first meeting with President Obama after the signing of the agreement. I proposed that Israel and the United States together define what would constitute a violation of the agreement—if Iran enriched uranium to 20%, for example—and what our joint response would be. Under what conditions would the United States support Israeli action to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons? To what extent would Washington support the continued Israeli struggle against Iran’s proxies, especially Hamas and Hezbollah?
In addition to reaching these understandings, I recommended that Israel seek compensation for the increased risks to our security. We could acquire advanced American systems that we had been denied in the past, obtain closer intelligence and cyber cooperation, and obtain authorization to purchase or lease strategic bombers. I suggested that Washington help block Iran’s regional expansion by recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Netanyahu presented these proposals to Obama, who promptly rejected them all. The idea of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, the prime minister later told me, made the president laugh.
Donald Trump is certainly not Obama. If he is indeed headed for a deal with Iran, he is still mindful of Israel’s security. Now, then, is the time to engage in an intimate dialogue with the administration. Now is the time to reach a common definition of Iranian violations of any agreement, as well as commitments for a joint US-Israeli response. Now is the time to receive a clearer green light to advance and enhance the IDF’s effort to defend the North. Now is the time to request and receive the military capabilities necessary to defend ourselves from future threats. Now is the time for the IDF to acquire its first B-2 bomber, along with bunker-busting munitions.
Together with the understandings, these capabilities will send an unequivocal message to Iran that Israel will no longer remain passive. We will have both the diplomatic backing and the strategic wherewithal to ensure that Iran will indeed never acquire a nuclear weapon or other massively destructive arms. Iran, which once operated with impunity behind its proxies, will from now on be vulnerable.
This article was adapted from a Hebrew version originally published in Ynet on May 27, 2026.
