U.S. Middle East Policy: Forced Cessation of Hostilities Makes Future Hard to See

Editorial

15:39 JST, July 11, 2025

The fighting between Israel and Iran has only temporarily subsided due to the military intervention of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. Close cooperation with the countries concerned and international organizations is essential to achieve permanent peace.

Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House two days in a row. Netanyahu’s visit to the United States was the third since the second Trump administration was launched in January.

Regarding Israel’s war against Iran in June and the U.S. military’s bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities at Israel’s request, Trump told Netanyahu, “We had a tremendous success together.”

But Israel’s preemptive strikes and the U.S. airstrikes have been criticized as violating the U.N. Charter, which in principle prohibits the use of force. Iran’s acceptance of the ceasefire does not mean that U.S. and Israeli military action is justified.

It is also unclear to what extent Iran’s nuclear facilities were damaged in the series of attacks.

Moreover, Iran has implemented a law to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency on the grounds that the IAEA has not criticized the U.S. and Israeli attacks, and IAEA inspectors have left Iran. It has become even more difficult to ascertain the status of Iran’s nuclear development.

The United States must immediately resume diplomatic negotiations over Iran’s nuclear development, which were underway with Iran before the attacks, and aim for a fundamental solution to the problem.

Trump and Netanyahu also discussed the fighting in the Palestinian territory of Gaza. Israel and the Islamist group Hamas have been negotiating a ceasefire through the mediation of the United States and others. The focus is on whether a 60-day ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas can be achieved.

Netanyahu, however, said Trump’s plan to transfer Gaza residents out of the territory was a “brilliant vision,” and revealed that Israel and the United States were in talks with countries that would accept the residents.

Forcing residents to relocate without regard to their wishes is a violation of international law and is totally unacceptable.

Israel has stopped the delivery of food, medicine and other supplies to Gaza by the United Nations and other organizations, and instead the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, led by Israel and the United States, has begun distributing relief supplies. However, the Israeli military opened fire on residents who went to collect the relief supplies, resulting in a number of deaths and injuries.

Netanyahu revealed that he has nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize for promoting peace. But isn’t Trump’s stance of condoning Israel’s inhumane behavior against the spirit of the prize?

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 11, 2025)