Any long-term agreement that the United States signs with Iran that freezes Tehran’s nuclear program is good for Israel. The alternative – renewed war – is not. Iran’s resumption of the missile attacks on Israel only reinforces this conclusion. The senseless deaths of IDF soldiers and officers in Lebanon underscore the urgency of pursuing a diplomatic path rather than perpetuating an open-ended conflict.

The way to achieve this is through a US-Iran agreement followed by a separate arrangement with the Lebanese government for a joint effort to disarm Hezbollah. Turning to the diplomatic path may be bad for Benjamin Netanyahu politically, but it is beneficial for Israel’s security and its citizens, who are exhausted from the wars on multiple fronts.

To understand why diplomacy now offers a better path, it is important to distinguish between the strategic logic behind Israel’s military campaign against Iran last June and the subsequent American-Israeli war launched eight months later. The differences between these two conflicts help explain the strategic deadlock that Israel and the United States now face.

Following the assassination of a senior Quds Force commander in Damascus in April 2024, Iran launched its first-ever attack on Israel, firing hundreds of missiles and drones. The attack failed, and it created an opportunity for Israel to pursue its long-standing ambition to launch an airstrike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The stars finally aligned for this operation, six months after President Donald Trump took office and Hezbollah had been neutralized in Lebanon. With Hezbollah’s missile arsenal no longer posing the same threat to........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)