Believing any word President Trump utters — whether it was during campaigns, yesterday, or five minutes ago — has always been a fool’s errand.
But when he was being shuttled from one manosphere podcast to the next, one thing he continuously told the Joe Rogans, Theo Vons, and anyone who paid attention was that his first term was the most peaceful administration in recent American history and that if he wins, there will be no new wars.
Admittedly, in his first month, he talked big about ending the Gaza war. But a lot has changed since then. Not only did he make a one-eighty on that earlier stance, but he also sanctioned the ICC and is even reportedly considering sanctioning Amal Clooney for her role in trying to bring Israeli and Hamas officials to book.
So it was no real mystery how Trump would respond to a potential Iran-Israel escalation. It’s worth mentioning that Trump took his time, though. When Israel and Iran first started trading missiles due to tensions about Iran’s nuclear arming, Trump had a busy schedule — first at his military parade-cum-birthday celebration, followed by an immediate protest and a G7 meeting. Trump was silent. For a while. Then, late on the evening of June 16, he took to Truth Social and declared an ominous message that everyone in Tehran should evacuate.
President Trump’s message of doing all that it takes to prevent Iran from reaching its nuclear ambitions is slightly curtailed by how he handled Iran in his first term. During President Barack Obama’s administration, there was already a plan in place that both the United States and Iran had signed off on — called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — whose sole purpose was to prevent Iran from enriching uranium in exchange for an easing of sanctions. The deal had its fair share of criticism, but the UN and most world leaders saw it as the best path to world peace. Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018.
Perhaps it was hubris, perhaps it was inexperience, but since then, his administration has been warning that Iran is dangerous. Israel, which was against the first deal, echoes these sentiments — and it’s been back to war. The resolution to this latest war now seems further than ever, as Trump is currently on social media still celebrating taking over Iranian airspace and toying out loud with plans of “taking out” the Iranian leader.
Trump on Iran's leader: "We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now." pic.twitter.com/WE1zgLnPsu
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 17, 2025
Trump: "We now have complete and total control over the skies of Iran." pic.twitter.com/ljmSTxWBKQ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 17, 2025
On X, users have grown weary of Trump going back on his earlier promises with one mockingly saying, “‘Mr. no new wars about to go all in on regime change.”
Mr. no new wars about to go all in on regime change bs
— Brian Crabapple (@BrianCrabapple) June 16, 2025
The goal has always been to bring peace in the Middle East. The tactic so far has been doing that through war. Most other world leaders that are responding to the latest crisis are trying to find a way to express concern while being neutral — and perhaps that seems like the right path at this time. They are all looking for a way of fixing this without any blood loss, much like the previous nuclear deal achieved.
