By Doina Chiacu
WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President JD Vance criticized Israel for a "weird panic" and "freakout" over the agreement struck between the U.S. and Iran, in an interview released on Thursday as the Trump administration sought to tamp down criticism of the deal.
Israeli officials across the political spectrum, including some of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's allies, have criticized the agreement, saying it did not address their concerns over Iran’s nuclear and ballistic
missile programs and would tie down Israel's military operations against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
"There is this weird panic almost in the Israeli system that I’ve picked up on where they assume that everything that is contemplated that is good for Iran will happen — but that will happen without the Iranians changing any behavior," Vance said in an interview with the New York Times.
"That's not how the deal is written."
The U.S. would not remove sanctions on Iran if it were still funding a terrorist organization, he said, in an apparent reference to Hezbollah, which Washington has long labeled a foreign terrorist organization.
U.S. HAS EARNED TRUST: VANCE
Vance accused Israel of a lack of trust in its strongest ally.
"I find this whole freakout in Israel a little bit odd because I think that it comes from a place of mistrust, and I think that America has earned the trust of that region of the world," Vance said.
"We’ve done a very good job by that particular country and that particular government," he said of Israel. "And I think that the idea that we’ve made a terrible deal is not supported by the facts, but just doesn’t make any sense if you consider the broad length of the relationship."
President Donald Trump tried to play down Israel's concerns during closing remarks on Wednesday at the Group of Seven summit in France. Netanyahu could use a "softer touch" in the fight against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, Trump said, in his latest public rebuke of the U.S. partner in the war against Iran.
Trump and Iranian leaders approved a memorandum of understanding this week that deferred the hardest issues to the next phase of negotiations, with no guarantee they will ever be resolved.
Citing specific critics of the deal — far-right Israeli cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich — Vance said: "I guess my response to them would be: What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have."
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington, Alexander Cornwell in Jerusalem; Editing by Michelle Nichols, Rod Nickel)
