Israeli press casts emerging US-Iran deal as a strategic defeat for Netanyahu
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Nadav Rapaport
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Tue, 06/16/2026 - 15:19
Military correspondents and economic commentators warn that a costly and inconclusive war has left Tehran emboldened and the prime minister diminished at home
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a news conference, following a US-Iran deal, in Jerusalem, 15 June 2026 (Reuters/Ronen Zvulun/Pool)
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While Israeli politicians and journalists voiced anger on Sunday over the emerging deal between the US and Iran, on Monday military affairs experts warned that Iran is becoming a regional power.
Alon Ben David, the veteran military correspondent of Channel 13 News, said that the emerging deal could be a blow to Israel's standing in the Middle East with far-reaching implications.
"This is a dramatic day for Israel and for generations to come," the Israeli journalist warned, adding the agreement "marks a turning point in the Middle East."
According to Ben David, "Israel had been the strongest and dominant power in the region, backed by the US, but this agreement clears the path for Iran to become the region’s most influential power."
Ben David stated that the agreement will give Iran access to its frozen assets, which are worth billions of dollars, while also generating additional $300bn.
The additional funds, a Channel 13 News journalist said, would ensure Iran can continue to support its proxies in Lebanon and Yemen, which Israel sees as a threat to its national security.
Additionally, Ben David stated, referring to the Iranian government, that Israel is now facing "a more vengeful regime, one with a greater desire for revenge and with nuclear capabilities".
The agreement could leave Israel "facing not only a stronger Iran, but a nuclear Iran," he added.
Danny Citrinowicz, senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), echoed Ben David’s words on Tuesday.
Citrinowicz said the Israeli-US war on Iran will "conclude with the regime intact, strengthened, and formally engaged by the US," adding that the Iranian leadership "demonstrated resilience, retained control, and shown a willingness to absorb substantial costs."
The cost of defeat
Israel's second war on Iran cost the country dozens of billions of shekels, Calcalist daily economic newspaper said on Tuesday.
The report, which designated Israel's war effort in Iran as a "flop", said that the war cost "Israel some 50 billion shekels that it did not have in the first place."
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According to the report, some of the funds were directed to bombs and munitions which the Israeli air force dropped on Iran, while significant funds were aimed to replenish Israel's dwindling air defence interceptors.
Following the war, the report noted, the Israeli military is now demanding additional 44 billion shekels ($15bn) to its already unprecedented high budget, increasing its budget to 188 billion shekels ($64bn).
Calcalist stated that it's probably not the last time the army would request an increase to its budget.
Recently, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested that the security budget rise by 350 billion shekels over the next ten years, with the additional funds directed to various military acquisitions the army demanded.
The Calcalist report questioned the economic policies of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who on Sunday criticised the US-Iran agreement and vowed that Israel would keep fighting in Lebanon, and against Iran.
The report said that Smotrich has still not offered a way to finance "the multi-front quagmire into which Israel has descended," referring to Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran.
Another failure of Netanyahu
With the US and Iran due to finalise their agreement on Friday, Haaretz military affairs analyst, Amos Harel, said the emerging agreement signifies the biggest failure of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since the 7 October attack.
Harel wrote on Tuesday that "the Iran affair is emerging as the second-worst fiasco in Netanyahu's long history," with only the Hamas-led attack of October 2023, which killed over 1,200 Israelis, topping this.
"The agreement will apparently satisfy only a small fraction of the expectations Netanyahu had," Harel said, adding that there is also a growing fracture between the Israeli premier and US President Donald Trump.
As uncertainty looms over Israeli operations in Lebanon, Harel said that "Iran currently seems to have come out the war even stronger and more determined," with Netanyahu's supporters in the Israeli press accusing Trump of betrayal.
While Harel said that there are still uncertainties about the details of the deal, the Israeli-US war effort ended with the Iranian government still intact, which "reveals the extent of the destruction Netanyahu has wreaked on Israel's global standing since 2023".
The Haaretz analyst added that Netanyahu would have resigned for his failures in any other country, but Israel is a country in which there is "a minimal sense of responsibility".
War on Iran
Tel Aviv, Israel
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