On one of the main roads out of Dahieh, the name given to the Beirut suburbs now at the heart of Middle East geopolitics, a row of streetlights bearing the same photograph of Iran’s penultimate supreme leader, the late Ali Khamenei, seem to bid farewell to those leaving the area. A few meters further on, as the city of Beirut begins, the iconography that floods Dahieh with the faces of Iranian and Hezbollah leaders — its Lebanese allies — vanishes, as does, to a large extent, the threat of Israeli strikes.

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The relationship between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu lends itself more to psychological analysis than political, after a decade in which the volatile U.S. president has alternately showered the Israeli prime minister with insults and excessive praise — sometimes almost within the same sentence. The war they launched together against Iran 100 days ago has driven them apart as the original plan dissolved: a short, successful operation with oil-related benefits, modeled on the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. Beyond how the Iran war is resolved — if it is resolved — its lasting legacy could well be the rift between the two leaders.

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