Vice President JD Vance on Thursday warned U.S. critics in Israel against "attacking the only powerful ally" left in the world, in an extraordinary rebuke after Washington and Tehran signed a deal to end the Middle East conflict.

Vance told members of the Israeli government criticizing the agreement to "wake up and smell the reality," amid growing tensions between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump.

He warned them that "Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time."

"If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world," Vance told a briefing at the White House.

U.S. and Israel jointly launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, but Trump has chastised Israel for continuing attacks on Lebanon that threatened to derail the deal with Tehran.

The agreement signed by Trump on Wednesday calls for a permanent end to hostilities and starts a 60-day negotiating clock to reach a final deal on the future of Iran's nuclear program. It appears to offer Iran several benefits up front while extracting little in return.

It states that Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium must, at a minimum, be diluted under international supervision. It also states that Iran shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons - a commitment it has made previously. But beyond stating that the U.S. and Iran will negotiate over Iran's nuclear program, other commitments still need to be worked out.

Much of the agreement would restore the status quo before the war, including ending hostilities, restarting talks between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial passage for the world's oil and natural gas, whose closure created a historic energy crisis.

'Wake up and smell reality'

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have vocally opposed the deal.

Smotrich denounced it as "bad for Israel and for the entire free world." Ben-Gvir said the agreement does not bind Israel, "and we are an independent and sovereign nation."

Vance acknowledged that the comments "bother" him.

"The problem for Israel is not Donald J. Trump and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in," he said.

In an interview with the New York Times published Thursday, Vance directly named Ben-Gvir and Smotrich.

"I guess my response to them would be – what is your exact proposal? You're a country of nine million people. You can't just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have," he said.

Trump himself has been increasingly critical of the high death toll from Israeli attacks, particularly in Lebanon.

"When two drones are shot into the desert and drop harmlessly, you don't have to knock down buildings in Beirut. They could behave better, and frankly, they could do a better job," Trump said in a press conference at the G-7 summit in France on Wednesday.

Maritime blockade lifted

Meanwhile, Vance also said that the U.S. Navy has allowed more than a dozen ships through to Iranian ports, lifting a blockade as part of their agreement

He said more oil is now flowing through the Strait of Hormuz and that more than 12.5 million barrels went through the shipping channel Wednesday night.

"So we're also honoring our end of the early part of the agreement on the military side," Vance said.

Vance said he plans to travel to Switzerland for talks on the Iran deal, but he doesn't know when that will happen.

On Tuesday, two oil tankers left Iran and crossed the U.S. military blockade without being stopped. A merchant shipping tracking website said the ships were carrying a combined total of 3.8 million barrels of Iranian crude oil.

Meanwhile, Iranian state media said that shipping has "normalized" at Iran's southern ports but added that the Strait of Hormuz remains supervised and under the control of the Iranian military and transiting through the vital waterway still requires coordination.

Major shipowners have begun moving vessels through the Strait of Hormuz since the agreement was signed, according to maritime data company Lloyd's List Intelligence – though they did not give data on how many ships have passed through the strait as of Thursday.

In a media briefing, Richard Meade, editor in chief of Lloyd's List, said for the first time in 110 days, ships owned by major companies are transiting the strait after effectively being marooned there since February.

Tankers controlled by major ship owners Grimaldi Group, Cosco, Knutsen and NYK have passed through the strait. And two Iran-flagged, National Iranian Tanker Company-owned, sanctioned crude oil tankers have entered the strait, according to Lloyd's List.

Phillip Belcher, marine director of Intertanko, a trade group for global independent tanker owners, said the main central route of the Strait of Hormuz is still closed and has an estimated 80 mines that need to be cleared.

But ships have been passing through the smaller Northern route, which goes through Iranian waters, and the Southern route, which goes through Omani waters.