CNN
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In the hours before Israeli warplanes carried out an attack on Iran early Friday, raising fresh fears of all-out war in the region, President Donald Trump made clear it was an outcome he hoped to avoid.
“I don’t want them going in because, I mean, that would blow it,” he said, referring to his diplomatic efforts to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
The fact Israel went in anyway – without any US involvement, and against the president’s publicly stated wishes – now thrusts Trump into one of the biggest tests of his young presidency. After promising as a candidate to end foreign wars and keep American troops out of faraway conflicts, his ability to avoid getting mired in a new Middle East war now faces reality.
By his own telling, the strikes risk scuttling his attempts at diplomacy with Tehran, even as his top envoy Steve Witkoff was preparing to depart for Oman for another round of talks this weekend. Trump said early Friday his offer for diplomacy was still open, even as Iran vowed retribution for the killing of most of its top military leaders.
“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. 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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!” the president went on. “There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.”
Whether Trump and Witkoff are successful in using the Israeli strikes as leverage for their diplomatic efforts with Iran remained an open question. Even before the Israeli strike, Trump had begun expressing doubts about Tehran’s willingness to reach a deal. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Israel of “harsh punishment” following Friday’s attack.
After months of simmering tension, the strikes could darken the pall over Trump’s already tense relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he urged as recently as this week to hold off on a strike. Trump did not mention Netanyahu in his statement, and there was no announcement of a phone call between the men.
Trump offered no signals in the immediate aftermath of the attacks that he was prepared to use American military assets to help defend Israel from expected Iranian reprisal, as his predecessor Joe Biden did when Israel and Iran exchanged fire last year.
Instead, the focus of public messaging from the US administration was on protecting the tens of thousands American personnel in the Middle East, and warning Iran not to drag the US into the fray.
In his warning to Iran on Friday, Trump implied the US would provide Israel with more military equipment – “Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come,” he wrote – but he stopped short of saying American resources would come to Israel’s defense. Trump is set to meet with his National Security Council later on Friday morning.
Without American assistance, Israel’s air defenses could be unable to withstand a major Iranian onslaught.
Trump, who ran on a promise to end wars and bring about peace, will now find himself caught between competing crosscurrents from within his own party. Many Republicans were quick to offer their support to Israel on Thursday, including Sen. Lindsey Graham – a longtime Iran hawk – who wrote on X: “Game on.”
Yet Trump has never quite adopted that strain of his party’s foreign policy, particularly in his second term. His administration is stacked with officials, starting with his vice president, who take a deeply skeptical view of US military involvement abroad without express American interests on the line.
Still, for all the complicated dynamics for Trump to now sort through, the attack hardly came as a surprise to the president and his team.
Even as he was speaking from the East Room on Thursday, the president and his aides were aware the strikes were likely coming soon, sources said, despite Trump’s repeated attempts at urging Netanyahu to hold off.
As the strikes were getting underway, Trump was appearing on the South Lawn at a congressional picnic. He returned to the West Wing afterward to huddle with top officials, according to a White House official and other sources.
Afterward, a terse statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to put distance between the US and any role in the attack.
“Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” read the statement, which was distributed by the White House.
“Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense. President Trump and the Administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners,” Rubio continue. “Let me be clear: Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel.”
Devoid of even boilerplate language offering support for Israel and its defense, the statement made clear: this would be Israel’s conflict, not Trump’s.
This story has been updated with additional details.
