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Israel has not been permitted to view the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran that ends a conflict in which the Jewish state has been a direct combatant, Israeli media reported Tuesday, deepening a rift between Jerusalem and Washington as the deal moves toward formal signing later this week.
"Israel asked to see the Iran-US MOU. The admin said: 'NO,'" i24 News diplomatic correspondent Amichai Stein posted on X Tuesday.
Multiple Israeli officials told The Post they were unaware that the document's contents had been shared with their government. The Israeli embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment, and the White House similarly declined to address the matter.
Senior US officials said Tuesday that Washington is not yet ready to release the document publicly. The text is expected to be disclosed after the formal signing ceremony, scheduled for Friday in Switzerland.
Iranian state media, which claimed to have obtained a draft, reported that the 14-article document calls in its opening clause for an immediate and permanent ceasefire across all fronts, including Lebanon.
A US official, however, clarified that Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory is not a requirement under the agreement, suggesting that a ceasefire on current front lines does not necessarily entail a repositioning of Israeli troops.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on Monday, made clear that the memorandum would not alter his government's military posture.
"The fight is far from over," he said, vowing to continue operations against what he described as "Iranian proxy forces" operating across Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, Syria, Yemen, and the West Bank.
He pledged that Israeli forces would remain in "buffer zones" in southern Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza for as long as security conditions required, and affirmed that Israel would maintain, in his words, "freedom of action" in Lebanon to counter Hezbollah.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz separately conveyed to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that Israel would not withdraw from Lebanon and would strike immediately if Iran provoked.
Netanyahu has also vowed to "take all necessary measures" to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, a stated concern that has underpinned Israeli policy across successive governments for decades.
Israel was excluded from both the drafting and the signing process of the memorandum, a conspicuous omission for a country that has fought Hezbollah, Iran's primary Lebanese proxy, across multiple wars since the 1980s.
Concerns have grown among negotiators that Israel's continued military presence in southern Lebanon could become a serious obstacle to the agreement's implementation.
The exclusion has generated unusual cross-party unity in Israeli domestic politics, though the conclusions drawn differ sharply depending on political affiliation.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right member of the governing coalition, declared that the memorandum "does not bind us," insisting that Israel is not a "banana republic, a weak nation dependent on foreign aid."
Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, the centrist opposition leader, called the agreement "the most shocking failure of Israel's diplomatic and security policy." Yair Golan of the left-leaning Democratic Party was more pointed, arguing that Netanyahu "benefits Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah but harms Israel."
The criticism arrives at a fragile moment for the prime minister. Netanyahu has been credited by some with persuading Trump to authorize airstrikes in late February, an intervention widely seen as shaping early developments in the conflict to Israel's advantage.
But the MOU process has exposed widening personal friction between the two leaders. Trump, under pressure to finalize the ceasefire ahead of US midterm elections, reportedly told Netanyahu, "You're the one who would go to prison without me." Netanyahu acknowledged the strains, allowing only that the two leaders are "partners and often agree, but not always."
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