Israeli killings upend honeymoon for Iran’s Pezeshkian

Analysis

Andrew Parasiliti

Aug 2, 2024

A woman walks amid vehicles next to a billboard of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (R) and late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at the Valise square in Tehran, on August 1, 2024. — A woman walks amid vehicles next to a billboard of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (R) and late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at the Valise square in Tehran, on Aug. 1, 2024. — AFP via Getty Images

Netanyahu’s ‘double game’

US President Joe Biden said he had a “very direct” talk with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Aug. 1, urging him to “move now” on a Gaza cease-fire while at the same time promising new US military deployments and weapons in the event of an expected retaliation by Iran and its proxies for the recent assassinations.

Among the messages from Biden — pursue a Gaza cease-fire, don’t escalate and we have your back — Netanyahu has, once again, mostly ignored the first two and pocketed the third.

As we noted here last week, Netanyahu didn’t even give lip service to the cease-fire in his speech to Congress on July 24, while adding some additional conditions en route to Washington, which put Hamas back on defense.