A scathing piece in The New Republic went further, arguing the deal represented American concessions dressed up as victories. When Israeli officials made that same argument, he treated it not as a data point from an ally with deep intelligence penetration of Iran, but as sabotage. But documentation on that narrow point doesn’t rescue the broader claim that Israel is the reason his Iran policy keeps faltering. By Vance’s own account, it was Iranian hardliners, not Israeli officials, who panicked and fired on ships the moment the MOU cost them leverage. Israeli officials didn’t sabotage a deal that was working.