Netanyahu Accused of Pushing Trump Toward New Iran Strikes, NY Times Reports

Israeli claims that Iran is holding chemical weapons have split Washington down the middle. According to the New York Times, some U.S. officials are pointing a finger at Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing the Israeli prime minister of trying to drag Donald Trump back into military action against Tehran.

The reporting landed via Cointelegraph, which flagged the NY Times account as a just-in development. That framing matters: the dispute isn't over whether Iran has a chemical weapons program in the abstract — it's over whether Israel's intelligence claims are being used to push the White House toward another round of strikes.

The divide inside the U.S. government is the story. Officials who buy the Israeli claims sit on one side; officials who suspect a political setup sit on the other. Netanyahu's name is at the center of the second camp's concerns, per the NY Times.

Trump's involvement is the hinge. The accusation that Netanyahu wants to draw him back into military action implies a president who has already been there once and might not want to go again — or might, depending on whose read you trust.

No timeline, no specific military proposal and no formal U.S. position have surfaced in the reporting so far. What's on the table right now is a fight over credibility: whose intelligence gets believed, and whose motives get questioned.

Expect this one to keep moving. Claims about chemical weapons are among the most explosive a government can make, and a split U.S. response gives both Israel and Iran room to shape the next headline.