Even Israel's most hawkish defense officials now concede that the Trump administration's decision to cancel the Iran nuclear deal was a big mistake. The deal worked out by former President Barack Obama was far from perfect. But it appeared that President Donald Trump was more interested in delivering another humiliation to his predecessor than carefully considering the global-security implications of scrapping the one thing that stood between Iran and the ability to make its own nuclear weapons.

Trump's main source of advice on killing the 2015 accord was then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had publicly criticized Obama's diplomatic overtures with Iran. The nuclear deal was the product of intense negotiations involving Russia, China, Britain and Germany. To make it happen, the major global economic powers had to agree on an intricate list of sanctions that prevented Iran from exporting its oil and blocked Tehran from accessing the international banking system.

Keeping the major nations in line required delicate diplomacy, but it ultimately worked, forcing enough concessions from Iran to win a 10- to 15-year moratorium on its uranium-enrichment program. Iran agreed to dismantle some facilities and to permit international inspections.

Netanyahu hated the deal, as did Saudi Arabia, because it only provided a temporary pause in Iran's program. Trump canceled the deal in 2018. Russia and China resumed commercial ties with Iran, and it now has minimal incentives to continue restraining its nuclear program.

Top Israeli defense officials now recognize the enormity of Trump and Netanyahu's mistake. Defense Minister Benny Gantz told Foreign Policy that he would support efforts by President Joe Biden to resurrect a nuclear accord. "The current U.S. approach of putting the Iran nuclear program back in a box, I'd accept that," he said.

Netanyahu's successor, Naftali Bennett, is openly critical of Netanyahu's military bluster, which helped persuade Trump that there were viable military options to keep Iran in line after killing the accord. Bennett told Israeli television: "Israel inherited a situation in which Iran is at the most advanced point ever in its race to the bomb. ... The gap between (Netanyahu's) rhetoric and speeches and actions is very big."

Air Force Maj. Gen. Isaac Ben Israel was more direct in an interview published by Bloomberg: "Netanyahu's efforts to persuade the Trump administration to quit the nuclear agreement have turned out to be the worst strategic mistake in Israel's history." Former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon echoed that sentiment in an interview with Israel's Haaretz newspaper.

Trump and Netanyahu now appear to have split because Netanyahu had the gall to phone Biden and congratulate him on his 2020 election victory — another example of how emotions and political grudges, rather than thoughtful judgment, guide Trump's decision-making. A man who would put global security at risk without fully weighing the consequences must never again occupy the Oval Office.

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