Lapid Says Netanyahu Is Turning Israel Into a Protectorate Over Iran Deal

Opposition leader Yair Lapid issued a sharp attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night over the emerging U.S.-Iran agreement. Lapid said the deal was a “total failure” by Netanyahu and claimed it would not achieve any of Israel’s war goals.

“The emerging agreement does not achieve any of the war goals of Israel,” Lapid wrote. “The regime survives, the missile program exists, and Iran can rebuild its nuclear program. This is a total failure by Netanyahu and along the way he is turning us into a protectorate that receives instructions about its national security.” He added that “no press conference, no media spin or AI video will hide the failure,” and said the next government would have to repair the damage caused by Netanyahu’s inability to turn military gains into strategic success.

The criticism came as reports said Washington and Tehran had made major progress in their talks. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday night that an agreement could be signed within 24 hours, calling his deal with Iran a “wall against nuclear weapons.” In Israel, concern is growing that the final text will be softer than expected, with officials worried that some of Washington’s original red lines have been dropped. A central issue is Iran’s enriched uranium: Israel has wanted it removed from Iranian territory, while people familiar with the talks say the U.S. may settle for diluting it and lowering enrichment levels.

Sources in Netanyahu’s circle said they fear Trump will “do to us what Obama did,” referring to the previous nuclear agreement under the Obama administration. Netanyahu said on Friday that he and Trump are in complete agreement that Iran must never get nuclear weapons, and his office said Trump discussed the evolving memorandum with him and is committed to ensuring the final deal includes removal of enriched material, dismantling enrichment infrastructure, limits on missile production and an end to Iran’s support for its regional terror proxies. The New York Times reported that negotiations continue behind the scenes despite the military escalation, with disputes over enrichment, nuclear sites, international inspections and stockpiles of enriched material. Iranian media claimed the deal would also include a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of about $12 billion in frozen Iranian funds, but Trump called those claims “fake news.”