Attention to the Unseen

The Washington Post reports: When previous U.S. presidents sought to tie the hands of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli leader often exploited rifts in U.S. politics to find a friendlier ear in Washington and wriggle free from constraints placed on him. But Netanyahu is finding that there is no higher court of appeals in his face-off with President Donald Trump, who has a viselike grip over his party — at a time when Democrats have little or no sympathy…

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The Wall Street Journal reports: As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighed how to respond to waves of Iranian missile attacks Sunday night, President Trump called with a message: Stand down. But as it became clear the Israeli leader wouldn’t ignore a direct attack, Trump shifted his tone. Keep it limited, and don’t let it escalate, he said according to people familiar with the conversation. Trump had hoped to contain the flare-up in fighting to keep it from disrupting work…

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Megan K. Stack writes: Emboldened by unstinting U.S. support during its devastation of Gaza, and with American forces by its side in attacking Iran, Israel is moving with disorienting speed on multiple fronts. Mr. Netanyahu attributes his country’s aggression to the bloody lessons of Oct. 7, which he insists was an attack not just by Hamas but “by the Iran axis, to try to annihilate us through a noose of death.” “I said, ‘We’re going to change the Middle East,’”…

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Axios reports: President Trump will call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and press him not to retaliate for Iran’s missile attack, Trump tells Axios. “I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate. Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike, and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one,” Trump said. Why it matters: The ceasefire in the Middle East is teetering after Israel struck Beirut and Iran fired multiple waves of missiles in response. Trump…

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The New York Times reports: Recent U.S. intelligence reports have raised concerns about Israeli spy agencies eavesdropping on American negotiators working on a peace deal with Iran, amid rising concern over a more general counterintelligence threat by Israel. Israel and the United States have long known, and tolerated, that each was spying on the other. But an intensified Israeli effort to learn about U.S. positions in talks with Iran has crossed a line, according to some American officials. The reports…

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The Wall Street Journal reports: The U.S. and Iran have spent weeks struggling to forge a preliminary deal to end the war. One major reason why they are stuck: Tehran wants early access to cold, hard cash, and it is politically hazardous for President Trump to agree. For Trump, a decision to free Iran’s assets upfront would inevitably generate comparisons to his own attacks on the Obama administration for flying cash into Tehran in the hours after the nuclear accord…

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Thomas Wright writes: A U.S. official told Axios that on Monday that Donald Trump read Benjamin Netanyahu the riot act for wanting to launch strikes on Beirut, which could collapse American negotiations with Iran. The message, the official said, was “You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.” Later that evening, the official White House account posted “TRUST IN TRUMP. ‘Just sit…

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The Wall Street Journal reports: Russia’s inability to break through the stalemate in Ukraine is becoming so evident that significant voices in the Russian establishment have publicly started to call for an end to the conflict. The big question is whether President Vladimir Putin will acknowledge this reality and abandon his aspiration to extinguish Ukrainian independence. So far, there is no sign that, in the fifth year of Europe’s bloodiest conflict in generations, he is ready to climb down from…

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The New York Times reports: In mid-February, shortly before President Trump launched the war on Iran, the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps conducted live-fire drills in its coastal waters. Iranian state media publicized the exercise, whose official name made its purpose clear: “Smart Control of the Strait of Hormuz.” The exercise amounted to a flashing red warning light to the Trump administration — one that, for reasons that are still not fully clear, went largely unheeded. Within days of the…

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CNBC reports: President Donald Trump on Monday shrugged off the possible collapse of peace negotiations with Iran, telling CNBC, “I don’t care if they’re over, honestly.” “I really don’t care. I couldn’t care less,” Trump told CNBC’s Eamon Javers in a phone interview midday Monday, saying he thought the protracted discussions “started to get very boring.” Trump had been asked about the prospect of Iran ending talks with the U.S. in light of reporting earlier Monday that Iranian negotiators would…

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The Wall Street Journal reports: The United Arab Emirates carried out dozens of airstrikes against Iran beginning in the early days of the war and continuing through the day after the April cease-fire was announced, people familiar with the matter said, a deeper involvement than was previously known in the air campaign led by the U.S. and Israel. The extent of the strikes is further evidence of the country’s growing willingness to protect what it sees as its strategic interests,…

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