US President Donald Trump is considering dismissing a series of senior administration officials who opposed the agreement with Iran, including War Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, US sources told Israel Hayom.
"The debate has been settled. Anyone who opposed it could pay a personal price," a senior US source told Israel Hayom two days ago, describing what was taking place behind the scenes in White House discussions on Iran.
The person who, for the time being, appears to be enjoying immunity is Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Among other things, he has been very careful not to criticize the agreement and also enjoys considerable popularity.
The balance of power in the Trump administration
Several weeks ago, Israel Hayom reported on a tense conversation in which a heated argument broke out among some of those involved, including between Vice President JD Vance and the president. Vance, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are managing the negotiations with Iran, support a deal with the regime, in part because of the assessment that the regime will not fall within a reasonable time frame, and also because of pressure from some Gulf states, led by Qatar.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and War Secretary Pete Hegseth, with the help of several senior officials at the Pentagon and the State Department, presented an assessment that the Iranian regime was dying because of economic pressure, and that intensifying that pressure was the right way to secure its surrender or, alternatively, its collapse.
Last week, a pointed conversation was held in which the decision was made, and the US president made a final decision to move forward with the memorandum of understanding. A demand by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent not to lift the sanctions, since reinstating them would be extremely difficult, changed the terms only slightly, and the sanctions are expected to be lifted at least in part after the full opening of the Strait of Hormuz, meaning without any meaningful Iranian concession.
The president accepted the position of his two envoys and his deputy on the Israeli issue as well. Although Vice President Vance stated in White House briefings that Israel's right to defend itself would be preserved, every time Israel attacks in Lebanon, and during the strike in Iran last week as well, he demanded that the president stop Netanyahu and accused the prime minister of deliberately trying to torpedo the emerging agreement.
