Doug Bandow, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and former special assistant to US President Ronald Reagan, said Washington must exert effective pressure on Israel to stop its ongoing attacks in Lebanon. In an interview with Al Jazeera, he noted that this would not be easy due to Israel’s strong political influence in the United States and the close relationship between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Bandow stated that Trump appears focused on halting strikes on Beirut, while Iran is monitoring the situation in southern Lebanon, where hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the conflict. He emphasized that without real pressure, Netanyahu could easily ignore calls to end the attacks. Bandow added that US financial and military support gives Washington significant leverage over Israel, yet no American president has been willing to suspend such aid for long.

He warned that if Trump fails to apply genuine pressure or find an effective method to do so, the measures could amount to mere political theater, potentially leading to the breakdown of existing agreements and dissatisfaction from Iran.