The US and Israel entered the Iran war together. Is Israel now being sidelined?
The Global Story
BBC
3.8 • 667 Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran, there has been an ongoing debate over the role played by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in convincing Donald Trump to go to war.
But when it comes to ceasefire announcements, it has been the US President taking the lead - if the Israelis are present at all. So when it comes to ending the wars in Iran and Lebanon, are the Americans leaving Netanyahu out in the cold?
We speak to Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondent at The Economist, and author of Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Producer: Sam Chantarasak and Xandra Ellin
Sound engineer: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivering an address from the roof of the Kirya in Tel Aviv, Israel, 1 March 2026. Credit: Avi Ohayon/EPA-EFE)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | When the ceasefire with Iran was announced last month, it was done so in typical Trump fashion, |
| 0:13.0 | in a post on a Tuesday evening on Truth Social. In a lengthy message, filled with quite a few words in all caps and a couple of exclamation points, |
| 0:22.0 | the U.S. president wrote that it is in honor to have this long-term problem close to resolution. |
| 0:28.9 | The Post had 206 words and no mention of Israel, the other key country in this all. |
| 0:37.1 | In fact, it was hours later when a matter-of-fact statement was released by the Israeli |
| 0:41.7 | Prime Minister's office that read in part, Israel supports President Trump's decision to suspend |
| 0:47.2 | strikes against Iran. |
| 0:49.5 | For the last several weeks, there has been this ongoing debate here in the U.S. on both sides of |
| 0:55.0 | the political aisle about how large a role Benjamin Netanyahu played in convincing the American |
| 1:00.5 | president to launch a war against Israel's biggest enemy. |
| 1:04.5 | Do you think the public fully grasped just how influential Nanyahu was in President |
| 1:09.7 | Trump's decision to attack Iran? |
| 1:11.3 | What did what have you learned? |
| 1:12.3 | President Trump was impressed by what he heard. |
| 1:14.9 | He didn't completely say yes right there, but he did say sounds good to me or something |
| 1:19.4 | that effect to the prime minister. |
| 1:21.6 | The United States went to war in Iran at the behest and then the demand of Israel. |
| 1:26.9 | Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, writing, |
| 1:30.5 | it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby. |
| 1:35.8 | But when it comes to ending these wars, where's Netanyahu? |
| 1:40.2 | From the BBC, I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. |
| 1:44.7 | And today on the global story, Trump and Netanyahu went to war together. |
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