Netanyahu left with vague promises, no clear victories after another war ends without a decisive win

https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-left-with-vague-promises-no-clear-victories-after-another-war-ends-without-a-decisive-win/

Trump moves toward talks with Tehran that could send billions to regime and fuel its rearmament, as the PM appears unable to land a knockout blow against Israel’s foes in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran

And this, it seems, is how it may end.

Not with the dramatic death of Iran’s “whole civilization,” in the words of US President Donald Trump’s threat, but a two-week ceasefire with Iran that looks to leave the Islamic Republic in a position to survive and rebuild after nearly 40 days of war.

The Trump administration, of course, is saying that it won.

“Nothing is over yet,” said Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar. “I don’t see how it is possible to bridge the positions of the US and Iran.”

Government leaders have obvious reasons to sell the abrupt end to the fighting as a temporary measure, though the prospect of Trump bringing the US back into an unpopular war without a clear path to achieving his goals appears unlikely.

A pause, not an end: What the two-week ceasefire with Iran really means - opinion

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-892375

 From Washington’s perspective, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz constitutes a major strategic achievement. For Iran, the ceasefire offers temporary breathing room.

Many Israelis woke up this morning feeling frustrated. In the hours leading up to the expiration of the American ultimatum to Iran, expectations were high that the night might bring another decisive phase of the campaign – possibly including strikes against Iran’s critical energy infrastructure.

Tehran agreed to the key American demand: reopening the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping. In doing so, it effectively ended, at least for now, the global energy crisis that had begun to loom over international markets.

In return, Iran received a two-week ceasefire. Importantly, this arrangement includes no guarantees that the broader conflict is over. There is no withdrawal of forces, and the agreement does not include a halt to Israel’s ongoing campaign against Hezbollah.

The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is therefore not merely a tactical development. It represents a test of whether Iran will abandon its use of global energy routes as instruments of coercion or whether the current pause is simply an intermission before the next phase of the conflict.

Trump Declares Premature Victory in Iran

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-iran-cease-fire-strait-of-hormuz-4dd95294?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

Tehran is still a threat to the Strait and may retain enriched uranium.

Did the war with Iran that began with a roar end with a whimper? That’s the way it looks in the cold light of Wednesday after President Trump’s announcement late Tuesday of a two-week cease-fire. Mr. Trump achieved some of his war aims, but the Iranian regime remains a threat in the Strait of Hormuz and the job is far from finished, despite what he promised last week.

Did the war with Iran that began with a roar end with a whimper? That’s the way it looks in the cold light of Wednesday after President Trump’s announcement late Tuesday of a two-week cease-fire. Mr. Trump achieved some of his war aims, but the Iranian regime remains a threat in the Strait of Hormuz and the job is far from finished, despite what he promised last week.

From Khamenei’s death to the 'Islamabad Accords': Ceasefire leaves unanswered questions - editorial

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-892393

Former supreme leader Ali Khamenei is dead. Iran’s ballistic missile infrastructure has been set back to a degree Israeli defense planners would have called fantasy in 2024. But the regime survived.

The instinct right now is to focus on what went wrong. That instinct should be resisted long enough to reckon with what this campaign accomplished – but not so long that we mistake a successful military operation for a resolved strategic problem.

The balance sheet tilts in Israel’s favor. That is true. Iran’s ability to threaten this country has diminished over the years. But Netanyahu’s own words Wednesday night suggest the government understands this is unfinished: “There are more objectives to complete, and we will achieve them, either by agreement or by resuming fighting. Our finger is on the trigger.”

The war gave Israel an opening it has not had in a generation. Whether it amounts to anything lasting depends entirely on what comes next.

Iran outmaneuvers Trump; cuts deal that leaves U.S. worse off than pre-war

Trump claims Iran won’t enrich uranium, will give up uranium, while US lifts sanctions

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-iran-wont-enrich-uranium-will-give-up-uranium-stockpile-us-lifting-sanctions/

No indication Tehran accepted such terms, as US president threatens tariffs, touts progress; Pentagon claims Iranian military decimated, despite ongoing missile, drone attacks

He notably appeared to make Washington’s 15-point plan for ending the war the basis of negotiations with Iran, even though his post announcing the ceasefire said Iran’s 10-point response would be the basis for talks.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials and state media published on Thursday what they said were the contents of the 10-point response on which the US had agreed to negotiate.

That 10-point plan notably included continued Iranian control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, an end to international sanctions on the country, and “acceptance” of uranium enrichment.These items would run contrary to Washington’s public statements about what it wants Iran to do.

Netanyahu says Iran’s enriched uranium will leave 'by agreement or renewed fighting'

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/syqsawv2be#google_vignette

PM says Israel aligned with US on removing Iran’s remaining enriched uranium, casts temporary ceasefire as only waypoint in war and vows that Hezbollah would remain outside truce as Israel stays ready to resume combat at any moment

Netanyahu spoke after a temporary ceasefire took effect overnight in coordination with Israel, saying the pause was not the end of the war but “a station on the way” to achieving all of Israel’s objectives. 

Retired general: Trump ‘an absolutely terrible commander in chief’

 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5819887-retired-general-steve-anderson-donald-trump-iran-threat-analysis/?tbref=hp

CNN’s Kate Bolduan asked Brig. Gen. Steve Anderson about his reaction to Trump’s heightened rhetoric. The president was doubling down on an earlier warning to Iran after giving them until 8 p.m. EDT on Tuesday to agree to a deal.

“Well, we already knew that Donald Trump was a pretty bad president, but now we know that he’s an absolutely terrible commander in chief as well,” he answered. “I mean, he continues to vacillate –– offers contradictory messaging about what’s going on and does he support the Iranian people? Does he not? Does he support regime change? Does he not? Are the allies with us? Does he need them? It goes on and on and on.”

“This guy is just not competent in terms of leading this force,” Anderson continued. “He has not set clear objectives, clear definable objectives, that the military can truly execute.”

Anderson predicted Trump will extend the deadline because Trump cannot do what he said he will do, “which is to bomb every single civilian target in the theater in Iran.”

Iran insists on uranium enrichment as Trump promises ban on enrichment

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/425199

While President Trump insists Iran will not be allowed to enrich uranium under the negotiated agreement, Iran's version of the plan includes an acknowledgement of its right to enrichment.

US President Donald Trump and the Iranian government have made opposing claims on the issue of Iran's enrichment of uranium under the plan at the center of the recent ceasefire agreement between the two nations.

Israel greets Iran ceasefire with more unease than relief

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/08/israel-netanyahu-iran-ceasefire-00863490

Critics on the left and right say the truce leaves Israel’s core concerns unresolved, even as Trump hails a new opening for the region.

Trump’s Iran brinkmanship reaches truce, escalates backlash at home

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/04/08/trump-iran-threats-deal/

The president’s ultimatum drew condemnation across the political spectrum and intensified open debate about his credibility, morality and sanity.

“The President’s threat that ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’ cannot be excused away as an attempt to gain leverage in negotiations with Iran,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in a statement on Tuesday. “This type of rhetoric is an affront to the ideals our nation has sought to uphold and promote around the world for nearly 250 years. It undermines our long-standing role as a global beacon of freedom and directly endangers Americans both abroad and at home.”

Iran’s government also portrayed the deal as a victory and is demanding a role in supervising passage through the Strait of Hormuz, which it did not have before the war.

“There is no military solution to the conflict right now,” Joe Kent, Trump’s counterterrorism adviser who resigned last month in protest of the war, said in an online video after the president’s announcement Tuesday night. “Every action that we’ve taken militarily has only strengthened the regime, and it’s done a lot to destabilize the entire region.”

Former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) called Trump’s threat “evil and madness.” Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host who maintains a large following online, accused Trump of desecrating Sunday’s Easter holiday with a profane social media post and of being willing to commit “a moral crime.”

Trump's profane and perverse Iran social media post is why the 25th Amendment was written

Trump brushes off questions about potential war crimes in Iran

 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5818411-trump-iran-strikes-war-crimes/

On Sunday, Trump threatened to strike Iranian bridges and power plants if the country does not open the Strait of Hormuz.

International law experts are warning that following through on Trump’s threats of total destruction in Iran could constitute war crimes. On Thursday, more than 100 international law experts in the U.S. signed an open letter warning that U.S. strikes in Iran, including threatened strikes on energy infrastructure, could be deemed war crimes.

The U.S. has already faced backlash for the missile strike on the all-girls Iranian Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school. The strike killed at least 175 people, most of them children. There is an ongoing military investigation that preliminarily determined responsibility was on the U.S.

The U.S. and Iran received a ceasefire proposal from Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey that included a 45-day ceasefire and the Strait of Hormuz opening.

Trump’s many threats of possible war crimes reach a crescendo in Iran

 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/06/politics/war-crimes-trump-iran

Just five months after President Donald Trump and his allies appeared indignant over a video in which six congressional Democrats warned service members not to obey illegal orders, Trump is showing exactly what they were talking about.

He’s set an 8 p.m. ET Tuesday deadline for Iran to agree to a deal and re-open the Strait of Hormuz. Otherwise, Trump has repeatedly said, he will strike Iranian infrastructure sites including power plants, bridges, oil wells and possibly others like water desalination plants in ways that could well amount to war crimes.

It remains to be seen whether he follows through if there is no deal. He has repeatedly delayed his deadline, which was initially set for two weeks ago, despite little evidence of serious negotiations.

When asked Monday about possibly committing war crimes, Trump said he wasn’t worried about it.

“You know the war crime?” he told reporters at the White House. “The war crime is allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”