Israel finds itself irrelevant and inconsequential as the race against the Iranian nuclear threat enters its most important leg. As was the case on the eve of the 2015 signing of the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, with world powers curbing Iran’s nuclear program, Israel once again finds itself being ignored by Washington.

This state of affairs stems from the uncertain standing of the ultimate purveyor of Iran’s demonization, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As he mounts his possibly final battle for political survival and personal freedom, unable to form a government and facing the start of the evidentiary stage of his corruption trial, he is injured, vulnerable and devoid of influence in Washington.

Netanyahu has barely uttered the word “Iran” in public in recent days, a sharp contrast to his incessant harping on the Islamic Republic over his past 12 years in power. Previously, when reports emerged from Washington that the new administration was considering an easing of sanctions on Iran or suggesting that Iran does not necessarily have to be the first to return to the agreement, Netanyahu would have been ringing alarm bells around the globe and delivering speeches rife with apocalyptic visions and pathos-infused threats. These days, he is silent. Even he understands the lay of the land, preferring to focus on his personal existential struggle rather than on Israel’s, at least for now.

At the same time, the arena between Israel and Iran is heating up. Reports that Israel had sent in the past few years an elite naval commando unit to attack dozens of Iranian tankers carrying oil exports in contravention of international sanctions, causing it billions of dollars in damage, have further muddied the waters of the undeclared war between the sides. Israel has not assumed responsibility for these attacks, but the reports in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times did not leave much to the imagination in this regard.