JD Vance tells Iran deal critics in Israel: Trump is your only ally left in the world

US vice-president JD Vance holds a press briefing at the White House where he criticised Israeli critics of Trump’s deal with Iran. Photograph: Eric Lee/Reuters View image in fullscreen US vice-president JD Vance holds a press briefing at the White House where he criticised Israeli critics of Trump’s deal with Iran. Vance was defending the deal ⁠reached this week to end the war ​with Iran that critics in the US and Israel have slammed for failing to curb Iran’s missile program and providing no clear path to dismantling its nuclear facilities, while constraining Israel in its war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The US provides Israel with roughly $4bn in military assistance a year, but the two countries are negotiating a new aid agreement. “The problem for Israel is not Donald J Trump, and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in,” Vance said. View image in fullscreen Benjamin Netanyahu holds a news conference on Monday following the US-Iran deal. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/UPI/ShutterstockTrump has repeatedly criticised longtime ally Israel, spiking tensions ⁠nearly four months after the two countries partnered to attack Iran. The war has roiled markets and global oil supplies as Tehran responded . Netanyahu’s office and Israel’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency. But Israeli senior officials, speaking anonymously, have said the deal terms were bad ‌for Israel because they failed to address concerns over Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program, a view they say is shared across Israel’s leadership. Trump tried to play down Israel’s concerns during closing remarks on Wednesday at the G7 summit in France. Netanyahu could use a “softer touch” in the fight against Hezbollah militants ​in Lebanon, Trump said. In his first comments since the deal, Netanyahu said at a public event that Israel appreciated its relationship with the US but would continue to occupy southern Lebanon to maintain security for citizens living near Israel’s northern border. Israel published a map on Thursday showing an expanded military control zone in southern Lebanon and said it would not rule out carrying out attacks beyond it, challenging the terms of the US-Iran agreement. Israel’s far-right national ⁠security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a linchpin in Netanyahu’s governing coalition, has harshly rebuked the US-Iran deal and insisted Israeli troops would remain in Lebanon.