US-South Korea Alliance Faces a Test beyond Political Rhetoric 
RECAP: Asia Sentinel Stories for August 2026 
Taiwan’s Habit of Releasing Soldiers’ Full Names Seems Risky For decades, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has preached a mantra of peace and stability in the Middle East through the destruction of Iran’s Islamic Republic.
The obliteration of the ayatollahs, he prophesied, would lead to the normalisation of relations between Israel and the wider Arab-Islamic world – with Israel emerging as the Middle East’s dominant power and indispensable security provider.
But on Saturday, Netanyahu’s dreams looked set to be dashed, after US President Donald Trump’s disclosure on social media that a preliminary peace deal with Tehran has been “largely negotiated”.
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The announcement, following calls between Trump and key Arab-Islamic leaders, instantly triggered a war of words on social media platforms between White House advisers and Israel’s top Republican allies.
The framing of the proposed deal as “Iran appeasement” by Senator Ted Cruz is indicative of the pressure Trump is under from the pro-war ultraconservative wing of his party.
Similarly, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo equated the MOU with “pay[ing] the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to build a weapons of mass destruction programme and terrorise the world”.
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