President Donald Trump tore into Tehran and stated his support for Israel Friday morning after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched aerial bombardments against Iranian nuclear sites hours earlier and took out some of Iran’s military commanders and nuclear scientists in the process.
Specifically, Trump chided Iran for not complying with his desire for a “deal” on its nuclear program.
Earlier in the morning, he told Fox News that the United States would assist Israel.
“I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done,” he posted on Truth Social. “I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come - And they know how to use it.”
It marked a striking change in tone for the White House from just the night before, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio had issued a statement clearly emphasizing that Israel had acted unilaterally. Just hours before the strike, Trump still seemed to signal a willingness to make a deal even while acknowledging Israel could strike.
“We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue! My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran,” he said. “They could be a Great Country, but they first must completely give up hopes of obtaining a Nuclear Weapon. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The flare-up between Israel and Iran is just the latest escalation that Trump has overseen. While Trump has always had an anti-interventionist streak, he has attempted more vocally during his 2024 campaign and his subsequent return to the White House to reduce America’s role in foreign conflicts and wind down conflicts that began before his second term.
Earlier this week, Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Republican in the older model of the word and an ardent supporter of Ukraine, asked Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth whether Ukraine or Russia was the aggressor in the war. In response, Hegseth said Russia was, but when McConnell asked which side Hegseth wanted to win, Hegseth said “this President is committed to peace in that conflict.”
That reflected Trump’s larger avoidance of outright support for Ukraine. During his one debate with Kamala Harris, he said he wanted the war to end but not whether he wanted Ukraine to win. Specifically, he said that even before he would take the oath of office, he would speak to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He famously pledged that he could end the war in 24 hours
Trump’s desire to end the war manifested itself in him blaming Zelensky for the conflict, despite the fact Russia invaded Ukraine. It culminated in his infamous blow-up where Vice President JD Vance tag-teamed with him to heckle Zelensky in front of the cameras and warned “You're gambling with World War Three.”
Of course, Zelensky is simply defending his country from aggression by Russia and Putin has had its eyes on Ukraine long before the 2022 invasion. Zelensky has also shown his own willingness to do what he feels is necessary, such as when Ukraine launched a bold drone attack inside Russia entitled “Operation Spiderweb.”
And Putin has not met Trump’s overtures in kind.
Rather, Putin continued his assault on Russia, with Trump often imploring “Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!” Last week, Trump spoke with the Russian president and said they had “a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace.”
Trump’s decision to side fully with Israel means that Trump will once again set aside his “America First” ambitions, which has sought to have America retreat from the larger world through a three-pronged approach of non-interventionist foreign policy, heavy tariffs to prevent foreign good from entering the United States and immigration restrictionism that seeks to close the country off from immigrants who come legally and illegally while deporting migrants in the United States.
Trump has never been much of a peacenik for humane reasons — he famously threatened to “bomb the s***” out of ISIS — but now, he has realized he has to handle the larger burdens that come with being the president of the world’s super-power.
And letting go of that responsibility is harder than he may have imagined.
