Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to lean on pro-Israel senators and right-wing media personalities to influence the terms of a final agreement between the United States and Iran, CNN reported Thursday, citing an Israeli source.
The source told CNN that Netanyahu assesses there will not be a final deal between Washington and Tehran, and that Iran will not genuinely agree to restrictions on its nuclear program. The prime minister now plans to use friendly commentators and lawmakers to carry that message to President Donald Trump.

Among the media figures Netanyahu hopes to leverage is pro-Israel podcaster and Fox News personality Mark Levin, according to the report. On Wednesday, Levin said the agreement “doesn’t make any sense” and described the planned reconstruction fund for Iran as a “slush fund.”

Netanyahu will also try to rely on pro-Israel senators to persuade Trump, CNN reported. But several have shifted their posture since the framework was reached. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had pushed for additional strikes on Iran, said this week that the deal “will be beneficial to the United States.”

The reported strategy follows Trump’s signing of a memorandum of understanding with Iran, which he inked at the Palace of Versailles near Paris on the sidelines of the G7 summit. The agreement extends the ceasefire and triggers a 60-day window for the two sides to negotiate a final accord.

Under the 14-point memorandum, the United States will lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports and the Strait of Hormuz will reopen to commercial traffic. Iran affirms that it “shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons,” and the two sides agreed to address Iran’s stockpile of enriched material through on-site down-blending under supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The framework also outlines at least $300 billion in reconstruction funding for Iran and a schedule for lifting U.S. sanctions, both tied to future compliance.

Israeli officials have spent weeks warning that the emerging deal leaves every core concern, including Iran’s enriched-uranium stockpile, its ballistic missile program and its regional proxy network, largely unaddressed while easing economic pressure on Tehran. The memorandum’s first article calls for an “immediate and permanent end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon.” CNN reported that Netanyahu has told Trump that Israel does not consider itself bound by the Lebanon provision, though it has already scaled back operations there under U.S. pressure.

The behind-the-scenes campaign marks a departure from Netanyahu’s public posture. When President Barack Obama signed the 2015 nuclear deal, Netanyahu opposed it openly, addressing Congress to denounce the agreement. This time the prime minister has said little publicly about the accord, telling reporters Monday only that there are cases in which he and Trump “do not see eye to eye.”

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