From the Times of Israel, March 10:
War is unpopular in US, but enthusiastically supported in Israel, where Trump has ‘unprecedented’ leverage over Netanyahu ahead of this year’s election, analysts say
Ten days after attacking Iran together, the United States and Israel have seen a public divergence, with US President Donald Trump facing political pressure and not sharing Israel’s long-term goals.
The allies face a stark divide in how their publics view the war, with historically low support by Americans for an offensive enthusiastically backed by most Israelis.
With the price of oil spiking, a warning sign in US politics, Trump told CBS News on Monday that the war was “pretty much” over, despite his earlier vows with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pursue weeks, if not months, of attacks.
US officials voiced unease after Tehran residents woke up Sunday to apocalyptic scenes of black smoke blocking out the sun and choking them, following an Israeli attack on fuel depots that the IDF said served the Iranian military.
Even Senator Lindsey Graham, a hawkish Republican ally of Trump who has urged war on Iran for years, called on Israel to “please be cautious about what targets you select.”
“Our goal is to liberate the Iranian people in a fashion that does not cripple their chance to start a new and better life when this regime collapses,” Graham wrote on X.
The US and Israel launched a bombing campaign on Iran on February 28 following a massive US military buildup in the region and repeated threats by Trump to strike Iran, first over its bloody crackdown on anti-regime protesters in January and more recently over its nuclear program.
While Iran denies seeking nuclear arms, it has enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities.
Iran’s clerical regime is sworn to destroy Israel, and supports a network of anti-Israel proxies, including Gaza’s Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Iran has responded to the US-Israeli strikes with missile and drone attacks on Israel and other countries and US bases across the region, as well as by choking off the world’s most vital waterway for oil, the Hormuz Strait, sending oil prices soaring. Hezbollah also launched rockets at Israel for the first time since November 2024, triggering massive Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
Israel wants Iran ‘permanently weakened,’ says analyst
Michael Singh, managing director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that US and Israeli goals in the conflict with Iran were mostly similar — but not identical....
....MUCH MORE
But what of the Houthis?
