Congress Discreetly Moves To Merge US Military Even Closer To Israel’s
'Why does the GOP congress try to do this every summer?'
Trump boxes Netanyahu's ears over Lebanon offensive, calls him 'f**king crazy': Report
President Donald Trump's tolerance for allied actions that undermine America's negotiations with Iran may have reached its limit.
Negotiators representing the U.S. and Iran appeared poised last week to advance the cause of peace between their respective nations, extend the fragile ceasefire that first went into effect in April, and open the Strait of Hormuz again to trade.
'Everybody hates you now.'
On Monday, Trump stated that "Iran really wants to make a deal, and it will be a good one for the U.S.A. and those that are with us."
Within hours of the president expressing optimism about resolving the unpopular conflict that is now in its 13th week — the peace talks began to quickly unravel.
Iranian state media and government officials indicated that Tehran was backing out of the talks largely over Israel's offensive in Lebanon and the escalations in Beirut that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced earlier in the day.
Although he initially appeared apathetic — telling NBC News, for instance, "I think it's fine if they're done talking" — Trump attempted to resurrect the peace talks, calling Netanyahu to impress upon him the need to change course in Lebanon.
According to the president, Netanyahu agreed that "there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back."
Two U.S. officials and a third source briefed on the call revealed to Axios that Trump used some choice words and effectively "steamrolled" the Israeli prime minister.
One official, summarizing Trump's remarks to Netanyahu, claimed that the president effectively said, "You're f**king crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this."
Netanyahu, who faces an outstanding warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, was indicted in 2019 in three Israeli criminal cases for alleged bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Last year, Trump called for Israel to pardon Netanyahu and/or drop his corruption case. Netanyahu's corruption trial is ongoing.
'Let’s see how long that lasts.'
The source briefed on the call told Axios that Trump was "pissed" and yelled at Netanyahu, "What the f**k are you doing?"
One of the U.S. officials claimed that Trump was aware of Hezbollah's attacks on Israel and the Jewish state's need to defend itself but was still convinced that Netanyahu's recent escalations were disproportionate.
Another U.S. official told Axios that Trump was also concerned over how many civilians Israel has killed in Lebanon. Well over 3,300 people have been killed and around 10,000 have been injured in the Israeli strikes on Lebanon since March 2, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
The White House did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.
Shortly after the call, Netanyahu confirmed he had spoken to Trump and "told him that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens — Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut. This stance of ours remains unchanged. In parallel, the IDF will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon."
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir publicly told Netanyahu after the call that "this is the time to tell our friend, President Trump — 'no.' Now is the time to do what is required and necessary to strike Hezbollah, to unleash the hands of our fighters, and to restore security to the north."
After stating that "talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran," Trump thanked Netanyahu for reversing course on his planned Beirut attacks in a Monday evening post on Truth Social and noted that both Israel and Hezbollah have tentatively agreed to stop shooting at one another.
"Let’s see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!" added Trump,
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Iran reportedly backs out of peace talks over Israeli attack — but Trump says that's fine with him: 'We talk too much'
The U.S. and Israel kicked off a 39-day bombing campaign against Iran on Feb. 28 during which over 13,000 targets were hit, including the upper crust of the regime in Tehran. While the U.S. and Iran agreed in early April to a ceasefire, it has been strained in recent days and weeks by violent exchanges between the warring parties.
While admittedly not in a rush to strike a deal to end the war in time for the midterms, President Donald Trump nevertheless expressed optimism early Monday that "Iran really wants to make a deal, and it will be a good one for the U.S.A. and those that are with us."
Hours later — and after U.S. Central Command announced that a pair of Iranian ballistic missiles targeting American forces in Kuwait had been intercepted — Iranian state media reportedly announced that Tehran has suspended peace talks with the United States, citing as cause Israel's offensive in Lebanon and escalations in Beirut.
'I don't particularly want to talk either.'
Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in a statement before his nation's state media threw cold water on the peace talks that "the ceasefire between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon. Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation."
Following the news of the initial ceasefire in April, the Israel Defense Forces announced that the Israeli military had "ceased fire in the operation against Iran" but was "continuing to conduct targeted ground operations against Hezbollah" in Lebanon, where the IDF already had a significant troop presence.
In the months since, Israeli forces have expanded their occupation of the south of the country — going well beyond the Litani River — and claimed significant gains over Hezbollah militants.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he ordered attacks on the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Mohsen Rezaei, an Iranian politician who served as military adviser to the late Ali Khamenei, said on Monday, "The Strait of Hormuz is under Iran's management. We will not allow the continuation of the maritime blockade, and the escalation of tensions in Lebanon will not be tolerated either. The patience of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran has its limits."
Tasnim, the semi-official state news agency that is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, subsequently reported that "the Iranian negotiating team will suspend 'talks and the exchange of texts through mediators.'"
The agency also claimed that Iran and its allies would "activate other fronts, including the Bab al-Mandab Strait" at the entrance of the Red Sea.
Trump told NBC News' Garrett Haake, "I think it's fine if they're done talking."
"It's an appropriate thing to say, because they're better negotiators than they are fighters," the president said. "But they haven’t informed us of that."
Trump noted that the apparent suspension of talks "doesn't mean we're going to go and start dropping bombs all over there" but that the U.S. will "keep the blockade. Blockade is a piece of steel."
"If they don't want to talk, that’s okay with me. I think it's fine. I don't particularly want to talk either. We talk too much," Trump added.
In an apparent effort to rescue the peace talks from total collapse, Trump announced around 1:30 p.m. on Monday that after speaking to Netanyahu, "there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back."
The president also said Hezbollah had agreed not to attack Israel.
Tump said in a Truth Social post just minutes later that "talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran."
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Congress may be quietly seeking to integrate US and Israeli militaries — but critics have taken notice
The House Armed Services Committee released its first draft of the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization bill last week.
Section 224, a provision buried hundreds of pages into the $1.15 trillion defense policy legislation that outlines the "United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative," has generated some controversy on the fringes of Capitol Hill.
'This provision would flip the script on the current bilateral relationship.'
Committee member Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) is among those who rushed to characterize section 224 as benign, stating that it amounts to a "security agreement" that "will allow for the US to leverage advanced Israeli technologies."
Some, however, have expressed concerns that the initiative will effectively mean a politically consequential integration of the U.S. and Israeli militaries along with their respective industrial supports.
The legislative proposal
Section 224 of the 2027 NDAA draft would have the secretary of war designate a Pentagon official to oversee the synchronization of "cooperative efforts between the United States and Israel, to expand and accelerate bilateral defense technology research, development, testing, evaluation, integration, and industrial cooperation."
The designee would, among other things,
- identify Israeli-origin or jointly developed technologies that the U.S. could integrate into its systems and programs;
- facilitate the transition of such technologies from research and development into procurement and acquisition pathways;
- establish "frameworks for joint ventures, licensing agreements, and United States-based co-production or manufacturing partnerships with Israeli industry"; and
- promote "joint training exercises and information-sharing mechanisms to enhance operational readiness to deploy jointly developed technologies."
The section clarifies that the "cooperative efforts" pursued under this technology initiative can be carried out through numerous domains including: counter-unmanned systems; anti-tunneling and subterranean threats; missile and air defense technologies; AI; directed energy; cyber warfare; biotechnology and biomanufacturing; network integration; and defense industrial base cooperation, manufacturing, and co-production.
Backlash
Ben Freeman, director of the Democratizing Foreign Policy program at the Quincy Institute, claimed in a recent analysis for Responsible Statecraft that "if fully enacted, this proposal would provide a higher level of military-industrial integration than the U.S. has with any other country in the world."
While acknowledging that the U.S. has worked closely "with its NATO partners on co-production and shared supply chains, most notably via the Defence Production Action Plan," Freeman said that section 224 would not only "fuse the U.S. and Israeli defense sectors in multiple areas vital to the battlefields of the future" but afford the foreign power "the opportunity to greatly expand one of the most powerful levers of influence in U.S. politics: jobs in the U.S."
Beyond potentially setting the stage for more Israeli influence over American politics and fusing together the two nations' military-industrial complexes at a time when the majority of Americans hold an unfavorable view of Israel, Freeman — echoing a colleague at the Quincy Institute — suggested that the initiative will shield the relationship from public scrutiny by migrating it from a visible aid vote in Congress "into the opaque machinery of defense acquisition, where oversight is limited and political accountability is minimal."
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the Pentagon did not respond to Blaze News' requests for comment.
Responding to Freeman's report, departing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) tweeted, "If the provision in the NDAA to integrate/synchronize the U.S. and Israeli militaries (section 224) makes it out of committee, I’ll offer an amendment to strip it from the bill on the floor."
"We are a sovereign country," Massie added in a post Rep. Van Orden suggested was the "dumbest possible take."
Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.), who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, said that he will introduce an amendment in committee to axe section 224. Khanna noted further that "Trump can't kill the Massie/Khanna partnership no matter how much he posts on Truth Social."
A New Policy, the PAC founded in 2024 by a pair of Biden staffers who quit over the administration's support for Israel, is campaigning against section 224.
"At a policy level, this provision would flip the script on the current bilateral relationship, shifting the leverage we currently hold because of our security assistance to Israel over to the Government of Israel who would be able to hold key [Department of Defense] capabilities hostage through the integration of Israeli technologies into the DOD supply chain," states the PAC's template letter to members of the House Armed Services Committee. "Section 224 also assumes a commonality of national security interests between Israel and the U.S., which, as the current conflict with Iran clearly demonstrates, does not exist."
Code Pink, the leftist group co-founded by former Democrat political activist Jodie Evans, has also seized upon section 224 as a cause du jour, calling upon Congress to reject "US integration with the Israeli military."
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White House says no worries after report claims rebuilding missile inventory used in Iran strikes will take years
Military officials, defense analysts, and critics have warned in recent years about the state of America's military readiness and the risk of exhausting its stores of critical munitions.
The U.S -Israel war with Iran — a conflict which saw a 39-day bombing campaign with over 13,000 targets struck followed by a fragile ceasefire interrupted in recent days and weeks by additional strikes — has spread America's missile inventory particularly thin.
According to a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the U.S. "has enough munitions for any plausible scenario in the Iran war, but the depleted inventories have created a window of vulnerability for a potential Western Pacific conflict. The time needed to rebuild those inventories has thus become a major concern."
'Democrats destroyed our military.'
War Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged during a Senate hearing on April 30 that it will take "months and years" to rebuild the military's stockpiles of various munitions. The CSIS report attempts to give a better idea of the turnaround for replenishing the stocks of specific systems.
The think tank estimated, for instance, that the U.S. will not be able to replenish its prewar inventory of Tomahawk cruise missiles — over 850 of which were reportedly fired just in the first four weeks of the conflict and fewer than 200 of which are made per year — back to prewar levels until late 2030 or early 2031.
American Enterprise Institute fellows Mackenzie Eaglen and Todd Harrison noted in an assessment last year that the U.S. expended over 150 THAAD interceptors — terminal high-altitude area defense interceptors — defending Israel in June 2025 during its 12-day conflict with Iran.
At the time, that accounted for nearly 25% of America's total number of THAAD interceptors — each valued at roughly $12.7 million — and reportedly three times the average annual procurement since 2010.
The new CSIS report puts the number of THAAD interceptors used in the current conflict somewhere between 190 and 290.
RELATED: US reaches new ceasefire deal with Iran — but there's a catch
With a projected annual production capacity of 96 THAAD interceptors at the current maximum rate and a potential expanded annual production capacity of 400 in light of the Trump administration's $1.5 trillion defense budget proposal for 2027, the CSIS report predicts a replenishment of the prewar stock sometime in mid- to late 2029.
An estimated 1,060-1,430 Patriot missiles — a variety of missile Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has recently been begging Trump for more of — were fired in and around Iran since Feb. 28. Again, a return to prewar inventory isn't expected until mid-2029.
The estimated turnaround for replenishing the prewar stock of standard missile-3s is early 2029; standard missile-6s is late 2028-early 2029; joint air-to-surface standoff missiles is mid-2027; and precision strike missiles is late 2026.
The analysts suggested that during this inventory gap, some munitions could be substituted, but swaps will invariably carry with them certain downsides.
"Alternative ground attack munitions, for example, are short- or medium-range and increase vulnerability of the launch platforms," said the report. "Alternative counter-drone systems are expensive."
The Trump administration evidently doesn't share the outlook of the report's authors.
Following the publication of the CSIS report, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to the Military Times that the U.S. military "has more than enough munitions, ammo, and stockpiles to serve all of President Trump’s strategic goals and beyond."
"Even still, the president has urged our defense contractors to constantly produce more made-in-America weapons, which are the best in the world," continued Kelly. "Democrats destroyed our military, but President Trump rebuilt it. Think-tank armchair quarterbacks are not read into sensitive information and have no idea what they’re talking about."
While the military remains tight-lipped about how many missiles and munitions were expended during Operation Epic Fury, the administration was provided with some idea as to how much was spent monetarily.
Jules Hurst III, the Department of War's acting comptroller, testified earlier this month that the U.S. had spent roughly $29 billion on the war.
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