Vance: Netanyahu has ‘certainly gotten some things wrong’ but he’s a ‘good partner’

US Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “certainly gotten some things wrong” in his relations with Washington during the Iran war, but is nevertheless a “good partner.”

Vance said that when US and Israeli interests diverge, the US must pursue its own interests, “unfortunately for the Israelis.”

He made the comments in an interview with CBS News, one day after he said the potential US-Iran deal was a “home run for the American people,” though Israel may not like it. His comments also followed fresh flare-ups between Iran and Israel and the US.

“Even when we’ve been close partners, sometimes we have interests that are perfectly aligned, and sometimes we have interests that are misaligned,” Vance said of Israel.

“And what I’ve seen with the prime minister is that he aggressively asserts the interests of his country.”

Vance added, “We have to fundamentally be focused on what is in the United States’ best interest. So they’ve been a great partner in a lot of ways, but we also have to focus on what is in America’s best interest, and where that diverges, we, unfortunately for the Israelis, have to choose the side of the American people, which we always do.”

Asked if Netanyahu has made mistakes in his relations with the US regarding Iran, Vance responded, “Look, he’s certainly gotten some things wrong.” He declined to elaborate.

Vance added, “He’s been a good partner, we’re going to keep on working together,” but reiterated that “where interests diverge, the United States is going to pursue the best interests of our nation.”

On Tuesday, Vance told Fox News that “while Israel obviously has some objectives that it has, the United States’ main objective in Iran is to ensure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon.”

Though Israel and the US have both cited Iran’s nuclear program as a reason for going to war together on February 28, Jerusalem has also emphasized the additional goals of ending Iran’s support for its terror proxies across the region, as well as its ballistic missile program, and setting the stage for the fall of the Islamic Republic regime altogether.

“Over the last year and a half, we’ve created the space necessary where the president believes – and I think that he’s right – that we can get the long-term settlement to Iran’s nuclear deal,” the vice president said Tuesday.

“Now, Israel may like that, they may not like that,” he added. “But fundamentally, we think this is in the best interest of the United States of America.”

On Wednesday, Vance said a deal “could happen in the next week, but it could also happen months from now,” though he rejected the assessment that Tehran was intentionally stringing along the US.

The relationship between Israel and the US administration has come under scrutiny in recent days.

On Wednesday, an Israeli official expressed rare frustration with US President Donald Trump, after the US responded to Iran’s downing of a US Army helicopter, despite having leaned on Israel to absorb attacks against its own troops without significantly escalating in response.

“The US understandably felt that not responding would have made them look weak, but when we said the same thing following attacks from Iran and Hezbollah, we were told by the administration to show restraint,” said the Israeli official, who spoke anonymously.

Nevertheless, a source in the Prime Minister’s Office told The Times of Israel that Netanyahu and Trump are “fully coordinated,” adding that they speak “every other day, sometimes every day.”

Trump and Netanyahu appeared at odds earlier this week when the US president urged Israel’s premier not to escalate after Iran launched ballistic missile attacks, but Israel nevertheless carried out strikes.

Trump has since taken a tougher stance toward Tehran following the helicopter incident, and the US launched fresh strikes in Iran on Wednesday night, though he has not abandoned efforts to reach a diplomatic deal, which he again asserted on Wednesday was close.

Nava Freiberg contributed to this report.