US President Donald Trump was informed of Israel's plans to strike Iran while advocating for diplomacy. Photo / Yuri Gripas, Bloomberg via Getty Images
US President Donald Trump was informed of Israel's plans to strike Iran while advocating for diplomacy. Photo / Yuri Gripas, Bloomberg via Getty Images
Donald Trump says he was kept informed of Israel’s plans to strike Iran even as he publicly called for a new nuclear deal and warned against fresh military action.
The US President held phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and Thursday, yet continued to say hehoped for a diplomatic solution that would prevent Iran obtaining nuclear weapons.
The result was a public smokescreen that allowed the US to get diplomats to safety and protect American interests, according to a string of sources familiar with the President’s thinking.
One former senior administration official said Trump was happy to play good cop, advocating for more talks, while Netanyahu played bad cop.
“This was very much a case of, if Israel’s going to do it and do the dirty work and do what we essentially want done, then he’s happy with that,’ he said.
Trump spoke with Netanyahu on Thursday, hours before the strikes began.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left), US President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance are believed to have co-ordinated closely this week. Photo / Yuri Gripas, Bloomberg via Getty Images
Asked what kind of heads-up he was given, Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Friday: “Heads-up? It wasn’t a heads-up. It was, we know what’s going on.”
Yet Trump kept up a stream of public comments about the prospects for talks.
“We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue,” he posted on his Truth Social site. “My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran.”
His officials quietly briefed reporters that Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, was to travel to Oman for the sixth round of talks.
And he told journalists in the East Room of the Oval Office that strikes could derail delicately poised talks.
Yet at the same time, American diplomats were preparing for Iranian retaliation to strikes. Non-essential staff were ordered to leave the embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, and families began flying home from other diplomatic posts in the region.
Simone Ledeen, former deputy assistant secretary of defence for the Middle East under Trump, said the sequencing, posture changes and the President’s own comments made it clear that the US and Israel had co-ordinated closely. The result was an operation to degrade Iranian capability while preserving American flexibility.
“Trump doesn’t want war. He’s made that clear,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean sitting on the sidelines.
“It means using all tools – intelligence, timing, messaging – to support an ally while protecting American interests.”
Israel's military action aimed to degrade Iranian capability while protecting American interests and flexibility. Photo / Fatemeh Bahrami via Getty Images
It also appeared that Israel was acting on a two-month deadline issued by Trump in a letter sent to Tehran in March. The strikes were launched 60 days after talks with Iran began on April 12.
Trump said on Friday: “I told the other side, I said, you have 60 days to make the deal. On the 61st day, they attacked. Today is 61 actually, and it was a very successful attack.”
Just before heading into the White House Situation Room, he said it could even improve the chances of forcing Iran to end its nuclear ambitions.
When he was asked by Axios whether the attack had destroyed any chance of reaching a deal with Tehran, he said: “I don’t think so. Maybe the opposite. Maybe now they will negotiate seriously.”
The website also reported that Israeli officials had been spreading rumours that Trump was quietly nodding through the plans, while maintaining a public veneer of opposition. The White House denies this is the case.
The President has political concerns at home to balance, too.
He was elected on an America First platform with promises to end US entanglements overseas.
Loyalists such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, the hardline congresswoman from Georgia, have warned that he is in danger of being suckered by the Washington establishment into giving up on that commitment.
Marjorie Taylor Greene warns Trump may be swayed by the Washington establishment. Photo / Kayla Bartkowski, Getty Images
On Thursday night, the result was reportedly a debate about how best to deliver a statement on the strikes amid tensions between the Maga and Neocon parts of Trump’s world. In the end, it fell to Marco Rubio, Trump’s Secretary of State and a hawkish voice on Iran.
“Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran,” he said. “We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region.”
Trump was mingling with guests at the congressional barbecue on the South Lawn of the White House when news of the strikes spread.
“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,” he posted on Truth Social at 5.56am.
But he already faces questions from supporters about where this leaves his campaign promises.
“How does the America First foreign policy doctrine and foreign policy agenda … stay consistent with this right now?” Charlie Kirk, a Maga influencer and ally of the President said.
Tucker Carlson, a long-time friend of Trump wrote in his daily newsletter: “Drop Israel. Let them fight their own wars ... It is not America’s fight.”
