US President Donald Trump insisted Monday that Israel did not talk him into launching a war with Iran, responding to news reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had influenced his decision, as well as mounting criticism among the US right.
“Israel never talked me into the war with Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“The results of Oct. 7th, added to my lifelong opinion that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON, did,” Trump added, venting his frustration at “FAKE NEWS Pundits” suggesting the contrary.
Trump was referring to the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel, during which terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people, mostly civilians, kidnapping 251, and triggering a war in the Gaza Strip. Hamas receives military support from Iran.
Israel and the US launched their campaign against Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize the regime and destroy its nuclear and ballistic missile capacities. Iran responded with missile and drone strikes across the region, including through its proxies in Iraq and Lebanon. Israel launched a major campaign in Lebanon in response to the Hezbollah terror group’s rocket barrages.
The US and Iran agreed on a shaky, 10-day ceasefire that is set to expire on Wednesday unless talks mediated by Pakistan reach an agreement for a longer truce.
Trump also said in the post that “the results in Iran will be amazing,” which came as the United States prepared to resume negotiations in Pakistan, although Iran was undecided.
“And if Iran’s new leaders (Regime Change!) are smart, Iran can have a great and prosperous future!” Trump wrote.
In the lead-up to and throughout the seven-week war, Trump has faced criticism from the left and from some of his own supporters that he followed Israel’s lead in launching the conflict.
Earlier this month, The New York Times revealed the details of a high-stakes pitch Netanyahu was allowed to give in the White House Situation Room in February, before the strikes began. There, he managed to sell Trump on a range of predictions, which have largely not panned out, regarding how swiftly a war with Iran would go.
While Trump’s CIA chief and secretary of state would later characterize Netanyahu’s regime change prediction as “farcical” and “bullshit,” the president and many of his advisers were convinced that Iran’s leadership could be taken out and that its military arsenal could be destroyed, according to the report, which cited extensive interviews with administration officials conducted on the condition of anonymity.
Days after the war started, US Secretary of State Rubio appeared to publicly state that Israel forced Washington’s hand by saying that a key reason America launched strikes against Iran was that it received intelligence that its assets in the region would be targeted in response to an Israeli attack. He later stressed that the joint attack on Iran “needed to happen” in any case.
Three weeks into the conflict, the head of the United States’ National Counterterrorism Center, Joseph Kent, resigned from his post, asserting that Trump was maneuvered by Israel into attacking the Islamic Republic.
Independent senator Bernie Sanders said, “Netanyahu wanted war with Iran. Trump gave him one,” while former vice president Kamala Harris last week asserted that Trump “got pulled into” the war by the Israeli leader.
Right-wing pundit and conspiracy theorist Tucker Carlson has also stated that the war “happened because Israel wanted it to happen” and that the US committed troops to the conflict because Netanyahu “demanded it.”
Netanyahu has repeatedly derided the idea that he dragged the US into war with Iran, calling it “fake news,” and insisting that Trump only bases his decisions on “what he thinks is good for America.”
Opinion polls show the war is broadly unpopular in the US, although views differ along partisan lines. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on March 31 found that 60 percent of Americans opposed US military strikes on Iran, with 74% of Republicans supporting the action, compared with only 7% of Democrats.
