In a speech to the Knesset, Donald Trump called for a peace deal between Israel and its arch enemy Iran, urging the Jewish state to reconcile with its longtime foe. The US president suggested that Iran could end nearly half a century of hostilities with Washington and Jerusalem by stopping its support for militant proxies and recognising Israel’s right to exist.
The proposal was met with scepticism in Jerusalem, where politicians view Iran’s Islamic rulers as an existential threat. In Tehran, the reception was even colder. Senior regime figures rejected Trump’s invitation to a summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, citing the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities in June and the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
Analysts say Trump’s diplomatic gambit is unlikely to succeed. Nader Hashemi of Georgetown University noted that Iran sees the US as untrustworthy after the summer war and the bombing, which has likely pushed Tehran to bolster its military capacity and pursue nuclear weapons. Abbas Milani of Stanford University argued that any deal is impossible as long as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remains supreme leader, comparing Trump’s invitation to “inviting the arsonist to celebrate the end of a fire”.
With suspicions running high, a resumption of military hostilities appears more likely than a diplomatic breakthrough. Hashemi warned that a cycle of attacks between Israel, Iran, and the US could reappear sooner rather than later.
