Iran Deal Traps Netanyahu; Now He Has Mutiny On His Hands

Right, so the Iran deal has landed as it is being broadcast, such as it is, a Memorandum of Understanding is just a diplomatic nod with nothing yet formally agreed to at all, but for all the pomp and ceremony going on ad nauseum, all gleefully and unquestioningly broadcast by the mainstream media, for once the story is not that Donald Trump has wandered up to a microphone, powdered himself in bronzer, declared himself the saviour of civilisation and is now eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Nobel committee on horseback. They’re sure to come this time aren’t they?Trump is in the story, obviously. That is the obvious bit. It is his deal. His signature. His announcement. His great big diplomatic peacock routine.So he is not the problem in this story.The problem is Benjamin Netanyahu.Because this deal does everything Netanyahu didn’t want and backs him into a corner he can’t get out of either. It takes Lebanon - the bit Israel wanted to treat like an open-ended military playground - and drags him out of it while at the same time he has the likes of Itamar ben Gvir screaming that Israel will not withdraw. Trump is desperate for this deal and it’s put him at loggerheads with Israel over it all while Netanyahu’s administration starts to eat itself over it. And the conflict here is clear to see. Lebanon is an Iranian red line, Trump has been forced to concede the point, such is his desperation and yet all of us can still point and say: hang on, if this war is winding down, why are Israeli troops still sitting in southern Lebanon?