The Israeli raid of the so-called Freedom Flotilla bound for Gaza takes the international spotlight away from Iran and its nuclear program. The raid is also likely to make it harder to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks.

Former US Ambassador to Mauritania Edward Peck, center, speaks in front of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, during a protest against Israel's raid against the 'Freedom Flotilla' taking aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip. Evan Vucci/AP

Israel’s raid of a flotilla of humanitarian aid destined for Gaza Monday ratcheted up already-simmering tensions between Washington and Jerusalem – and is likely to complicate US efforts to rein in Iran and to jump-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Yet Washington issued some of the blandest official reaction to the deadly incident involving the so-called Freedom Flotilla. That made Israel look more like the friend the United States will always stand by – but which it wishes would act better in public.

“I imagine they [US officials] are reading the Israelis the riot act just now,” says Daniel Levy, co-director of the Middle East Task Force at the New America Foundation in Washington. If the situation does not deteriorate further, the impact on a specific US goal such as restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks may not be devastating, he says. "Source"