Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter heavily minimized rumors of diplomatic fracturing between Washington and Jerusalem on Monday, characterizing the bilateral alliance as a highly synchronized partnership despite media narratives to the contrary.
Appearing on Fox News with anchor John Roberts, Leiter commented on statements made by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) following a weekend exchange of fire. Roberts noted that Israel's air defense networks, including the Iron Dome, successfully intercepted every single missile fired by Tehran, despite the Iranian regime's public boasts of a devastating operation.
“Well, it shouldn't surprise us. They do have delusions of grandeur," Leiter remarked during the broadcast. “These are the madmen of Tehran. They've been calling for and working towards Israel's destruction now for 47 years. And they have not been successful. And on the contrary, together with our senior partner, the United States, we've degraded the Iranian forces. The issue is this. I mean, they fire ballistic missiles that can kill, maim, really destroy neighborhoods at will. And there's no self-respecting country in the world that would absorb so many ballistic missiles into their territory without responding. We had to respond. We did respond. And they got a taste of how we can respond."
The discussion subsequently shifted toward reports by Axios stating that US President Donald Trump had personally pressured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from launching a counterattack after the first wave of Iranian projectiles. Leiter, who confirmed he has participated in all bilateral meetings and telephone consultations between the two leaders, disputed the framing of the leaks.
“Well, you know, John, I've been on all these calls and all the meetings that the prime minister has with the president," the ambassador stated. “And I can tell you that there are journalists in the circuit who like to play up a certain narrative. The conversations between the prime minister and the president are cordial. They're friendly. They have a deep friendship that goes back some 40 years. And sometimes lovers have a spat. And sometimes the tension in the room and on the conversation can get a little heated. But for the most part, we're dealing with a very, very close collaborative effort between the United States and Israel. And there's tremendous understanding."
Leiter continued, “The president understands full well that we cannot absorb ballistic missiles into our country without responding. And at some point, you know, the president said, let's try to spiral this down, lower it down, lower the temperature. And which, of course, the prime minister decided to do."
Leiter explained that “the main issue here is that Iran is trying to connect the negotiations with the United States with Lebanon. And they have nothing to do with Lebanon. They have nothing to do with Lebanon. We're not going to allow Hezbollah to dominate Lebanon, to fire killer drones and missiles and rockets into our northern communities and let them have impunity in Beirut. That's understood really by everyone, particularly by our American friends. So when we hit Hezbollah, that has nothing to do with Iran. And they have to stay out of it. Lebanon wants Iran to stay out of it. We're on the same page with Lebanon about keeping Iran out of our area."
When Roberts pressed further on whether Tehran had successfully maneuvered President Trump into linking the broader regional ceasefire with the fate of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Leiter expressed absolute confidence that the White House would maintain a firm stance.
“I don't think so," Leiter countered. “They're not going to be successful in linking Lebanon. Lebanon will not have a future if it remains linked to Iran. The president of Lebanon has said that, President Aoun. We believe that in order for Israel to have security and for Lebanon to have freedom, it is absolutely imperative that Iran is delinked from the Lebanon issue. Truly, it's imperative that Iran be delinked from pretty everything else in the Middle East. And I think that's the direction. President Trump has said repeatedly he will not sign a bad deal with Iran. And a bad deal would be allowing that linkage to take place. It's not going to happen."
Roberts also confronted the ambassador with a report from the Financial Times, in which President Trump explicitly told the publication during a telephone interview that Netanyahu would be forced to accept whatever peace terms the US negotiates, quoting Trump as saying: "He won't have any choice... I call the shots. I call all the shots. He, Netanyahu, doesn't call the shots."
Leiter pushed back against the Financial Times report, arguing that a single snippet does not accurately reflect the vast architecture of the US-Israeli relationship.
“You know, I only wish that the Financial Times reporting that would be on the calls with President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, because that's not the tone of the conversation," Leiter told Roberts. “It's much, it's much more one of cooperation, of friendship, of collegiality. And they consult with one another. And I think ultimately we entered this war against Iran together. We will end it together without attention or acrimony that some journalists would like to have. The bottom line is there are people, the same people trying to link Iran to Lebanon are the same people trying to de-link the United States and Israel. Iran won't be linked to Lebanon and we will not be de-linked from the United States."
Even when the anchor reminded him that the quote came directly from Trump's own mouth to reporters, Leiter maintained that the overarching strategic implementation on the ground remains the only true metric of the alliance.
“Well, I've been on those conversations and I think the president was making a point," Leiter explained. “I think it's much more important to put the focus on what we actually implement together rather than a statement like that or other statements that he's made from time to time. The fact of the matter is the level of collaboration between our countries has never been greater. We have the same objectives. We have the same intentions. We don't want to see Iran to be a regional power. We don't want to see a menacing, malign Ayatollah regime in Tehran. We've worked together to make sure that's not the case and we'll continue to do so. And a sentence in an article or in a conversation here and there is really not the issue. Look, they've had hundreds and hundreds of hours of conversations over the past year and a half. And they've met seven times here in Washington, once in Jerusalem. So to take one statement out of the hundreds of hours of conversation and turn that in to the centerpiece of their relationship I think is a huge mistake."