Vance warns Israel: Don't attack your only ally

US Vice President J.D. Vance lashed out at Israeli critics of the Iran deal on Tuesday, saying President Donald Trump is Israel's only ally, in a sharp rebuke that pointed to the billions of dollars in US defense aid the country receives.

As the Trump administration defended its agreement to end the war with Iran, Vance was asked about a report that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was furious about the deal.

Vance said he had not heard such comments from Netanyahu, but criticized members of the Israeli leader's cabinet, whom he said had attacked the agreement and personally attacked Trump.

"My message to them would be twofold. First: Donald Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who has any understanding for the state of Israel at this time," Vance told reporters at the White House.

"If I were in the Israeli government's cabinet, I don't think I would attack the only powerful ally I have left anywhere in the world."

He said he would also remind those cabinet members that two-thirds of the defensive weapons protecting Israel were “made by American hands and paid for by American taxpayers.” The US provides Israel with about four billion dollars in military aid annually.

"Israel's problem is not Donald Trump, and anyone in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and face the reality of the situation that country finds itself in," Vance said.

Vance said the Gulf states supported the agreement: "They say it's a turning point for the region, because, either way, we and the wider region benefit."

Vance's statements further reinforced what he said in an interview with the New York Times, published earlier today, in which he criticized Israel for "strange panic" and "hysteria" over the agreement reached between the US and Iran.

"This whole hysteria in Israel is a little strange to me, because I think it comes from distrust, and I think America has earned the trust of that part of the world," Vance said.

Citing specific critics of the agreement - far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich - Vance said: "I guess my response to them would be: What exactly is your proposal? You are a country of nine million people. You can't solve every national security problem you have by killing people."

Vance's remarks at a White House press briefing reflected rising tensions between the two longtime allies, nearly four months after the United States joined Israel in attacking Iran, which rattled markets and global oil supplies as Tehran responded by closing the key supply route through the Strait of Hormuz.

Israeli officials across the political spectrum, including some of Netanyahu's allies, have criticized the agreement, arguing that it does not address their concerns about Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and would limit Israeli military operations against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.

Trump sought to allay Israeli concerns in his closing remarks at the Group of Seven summit in France on Wednesday. Netanyahu could take a “softer approach” in fighting Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, Trump said, in his latest public rebuke of America’s ally in the war against Iran.