Israel and America just split in public over Iran and the rift is getting louder

He said he wouldn't say we're on the verge of a breakthrough. He said some of Iran's demands are not just unacceptable, but in some cases unrealistic.

Separately, Rubio said Washington saw no immediate need to resume major combat operations. His reasoning? Economic pressure on Iran was already working.

So Washington's position right now: no new strikes, no breakthrough, and pressure doing the job instead.

And this gap between Washington and Jerusalem isn't new.

The Financial Times has reported that Netanyahu has been calling Trump every day pushing for resumed strikes. And that Arab leaders are growing worried he'll succeed in pulling Trump back into the war.

A diplomat familiar with the talks says people both inside and outside the White House are trying to stop that from happening. Regional leaders want Trump to stick with negotiations instead.

So why is Trump being cautious right now? Look at the politics.

A week before the call, Republicans lost control of both the House and the Senate. The midterm result was widely read as a rebuke of Trump's policies — including the Iran war.

Trump hasn't backed down from the war itself. He told the Wall Street Journal afterwards that he did the right thing and would have done it again.

But restarting strikes now means restarting an unpopular war right after voters punished him for it.

And Netanyahu has his own pressure to deal with.

Four days before the call, Israel's President, Isaac Herzog, passed him over. He handed the job of forming the next government to Gadi Eisenkot instead — a former Israeli military chief of staff who now leads the centrist Yashar party.

Eisenkot has 28 days to build a coalition, with a possible 14-day extension.

One Israeli broadcaster has also reported fresh disagreement inside Israel itself — between Netanyahu's camp and Eyal Zamir, the military's chief of staff, over what to do about Iran next.

So was the call really a shouting match? Or was it, as Netanyahu's office says, not difficult at all?

Neither side has settled that.

What both sides do agree on is this: they disagree on Iran. One man wants the regime gone. The other wants to keep talking to it.