Crews prepare the stage at the annual AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, DC, March 6, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Brian Snyder

Jewish and pro-Israel groups largely expressed deep skepticism about the US-Iran agreement intended to end months of fighting across the Middle East, indicating cautious optimism about what future negotiations could yield while noticeably refusing to offer enthusiastic support.

According to both Tehran and Washington, the deal, championed by US President Donald Trump, will reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping, lift the US blockade of Iranian ports, and create a framework for future negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. The agreement will also reportedly include limited sanctions relief and a broader effort to de-escalate conflicts linked to Iran and its regional allies.

The America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, issued a measured statement which did not directly condemn the deal.

For many Israelis, however, the agreement appears to leave untouched the very issues that prompted the war. 

“Israel is paying the price of Netanyahu’s hubris and blindness, and the price of the manipulations that he tried to pull on Trump,” former Prime Minister and Netanyahu rival Ehud Barak said in a Monday interview. “Iran emerged stronger; Israel emerged weaker. That is Netanyahu’s strategic responsibility. He failed.”

Under the proposed framework, Iran will reopen the Strait of Hormuz, ending a blockade that has rattled global energy markets and disrupted large swaths of the world’s trade. In exchange, the US will lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports and, according to Iranian reports, provide limited sanctions relief designed to stabilize the Iranian economy. US officials have said that Iran will receive no sanctions relief until its behavior changes with certain measures.

The agreement also establishes a 60-day period of negotiations intended to tackle more complicated issues, including Iran’s nuclear activities. Tehran could have access to a $300 billion reconstruction fund.

Israeli officials and analysts have long argued that any acceptable settlement must significantly reduce Iran’s ability to enrich uranium and restrict its ballistic missile program. Yet the current framework reportedly contains no immediate requirements for Iran to surrender its stockpile of enriched uranium, halt missile development, or dismantle regional proxy networks such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

The agreement is also expected to include provisions aimed at reducing fighting in Lebanon, where Israel has maintained military operations against Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah.

In a Monday night press conference, Netanyahu addressed the proposal and downplayed reports of a rift with Trump but stressed that the Jewish state will continue its pursuit of dismantling Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

“The struggle is not over. We will have to continue standing guard and defending ourselves whenever necessary,” he said.

“In the United States, they say that President Trump does everything I ask, and in Israel, they say the opposite — that I do everything he asks. So that’s not true, and that’s not true,” Netanyahu added. “It’s a relationship between partners who have known each other for a long time. Many times we agree; sometimes we also disagree. It happens in the best of families.”

The Israeli premier stressed the need to permanently weaken Iran and prevent it from rebuilding military capabilities after the conflict.

US Vice President JD Vance outlined the details of the proposal during a Monday interview on “CBS This Morning,” seemingly confirming that Iran would receive a substantial payment in exchange for signing the deal and abiding by it.

“That’s the sort of thing they could have access to, funded by the Gulf coast coalition, so long as they honor their end of the obligation,” Vance said.

“I think that one of the things you’re going to see … is that the hardliners in the Iranian system will overemphasize the benefits that Iran gets, while underemphasizing all the things that they have to concede and all the things they have to provide in order to get these benefits,” he continued. 

Opponents warn that the deal merely postpones the hardest questions.

“This is a disastrous agreement for Israel. There is no one at the top who does not think so, from the Prime Minister to the IDF chief of staff,” a senior Israeli official told Israel’s Channel 13.

Whether Iran ultimately agrees to stricter limits on its nuclear program, what happens to its stockpile of enriched uranium, and whether regional proxy groups will be addressed remain unresolved issues.

Iran has long claimed that its nuclear program exists for civilian purposes rather than building weapons. However, several Western governments have long maintained that the regime seeks to build nuclear weapons, noting its history of building covert sites and enriching uranium well beyond what’s needed for any civilian use.