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U.S.-Israeli Rift Widens After Israeli Strike on Iranian-Qatari Gas Field

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U.S.-Israeli tensions over the war in Iran intensified this week after an Israeli strike on a major Iranian-Qatari gas field prompted President Donald Trump to publicly distance Washington from his closest Middle Eastern ally, even as their forces continued joint operations. The dispute surfaced as U.S. officials increasingly acknowledged that Washington’s more limited war aims were diverging from Israel’s far‑reaching push against Iran’s leadership and infrastructure.washingtonpost +1

The rift followed nearly three weeks of U.S.-Israeli strikes that began on February 28 and killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the opening salvo, part of a campaign that has seen an estimated 16,000 combined strikes on Iranian and allied targets across the region.washingtonpost +1 Iran has retaliated with missiles and drones against Israel, U.S. bases and Gulf energy facilities, driving oil prices above $110 a barrel and knocking out about 17 percent of global LNG supply after damage to Qatar’s Ras Laffan terminal.washingtonpost +1

Competing Endgames: Limited War vs. Regime Change?

U.S. officials have described Washington’s objectives as destroying Iran’s ballistic missile program, crippling its navy, neutralizing regional proxies such as Hezbollah, and preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon — goals they frame as finite and tied to restoring deterrence.washingtonpost +1 By contrast, Israeli operations have increasingly targeted Iran’s internal security apparatus and senior political figures, including the killing of parliament speaker‑turned‑de facto leader Ali Larijani and intelligence minister Esmail Khatib.theweek

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told lawmakers that Trump’s aims “are different from the objectives laid out” by Israel, an unusually blunt public acknowledgment of divergent goals between the allies.dw Analysts noted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long advocated regime change in Tehran and is seen as more willing to accept regional instability and economic disruption if it weakens Iran’s state, a posture one U.S. official summarized as: “Israel doesn’t hate the chaos. We do.”theguardian +1

Gas Field Strike, Gulf Anger and Political Blowback

The strategic split burst into the open after Israeli warplanes hit Iran’s South Pars/Asaluyeh gas complex, damaging facilities shared with Qatar and further rattling global energy markets.washingtonpost +1 Trump insisted the United States “knew nothing” about the attack and that Qatar “was in no way, shape, or form, involved,” contradicting Israeli suggestions of close coordination and alarming Gulf partners already under Iranian fire.washingtonpost +1

The widening gap has spilled into U.S. domestic politics. National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent resigned in protest, saying the United States had been “dragged into another Middle East war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”msn Prominent conservative media figures are openly split over the conflict, reflecting broader unease about casualties — at least 13 U.S. service members killed so far — and the risk of a protracted, open‑ended campaign in Iran and across proxy fronts in Lebanon and the Gulf.washingtonpost +1

The Bigger Picture

With Hezbollah barraging northern Israel from Lebanon and Iran striking Kuwaiti and Qatari energy hubs, the U.S.-Israeli disagreement over the war’s destination has become more than a bilateral quarrel; it now shapes how quickly the conflict can be contained, how severely global energy markets are hit, and whether any diplomatic off‑ramp is viable.aljazeera +1 Washington’s effort to keep its objectives narrow while Israel presses a maximalist campaign will test the resilience of one of the world’s closest military alliances at a moment when miscalculation — in Tehran, Jerusalem or Washington — could redraw the region’s map and reverberate through economies far beyond the Middle East.