Israel launched widescale strikes against Iran on Friday, saying it targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders and that this was the start of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.
Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump says Iran must agree to a deal ending its nuclear program or face “more brutal” Israeli attacks, even as his administration is distancing itself from Israel’s bombing campaign.
Mr. Trump on Friday sought to use the airstrikes as leverage in negotiations only a day after saying such an attack would hurt his efforts to reach an agreement. Iran, meanwhile, said it would not attend planned talks with Mr. Trump’s envoy this weekend.
“Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire,” the President wrote on Truth Social as the region stood on the threshold of all-out war. “JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”
Mr. Trump said that, two months ago, he gave Iran a 60-day deadline to reach an agreement but “Iranian hard-liners” missed that target and it is now day 61. “They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!”
In a round of calls to media outlets, the President repeated this message, tying the bombings to his timeline for a deal and insisting he had known that the attack was coming well in advance.
What we know so far about the Israel-Iran conflict
Mr. Trump also hunkered down with the National Security Council in the White House situation room. The Reuters news agency, citing unnamed U.S. officials, said the American military had helped Israel shoot down some of Iran’s retaliatory missiles on Friday.
Shortly after Israel’s initial attack began on Thursday night, Washington time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that Israel was acting alone and warned Tehran not to retaliate by hitting American targets.
“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,” Mr. Rubio said. “Let me be clear: Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel.”
President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are distancing the U.S. from Israel's attack on Iran.Nathan Howard/Reuters
Israel’s strikes hit Iran’s main uranium-enrichment facility at Natanz, and also killed several of the country’s top military brass and scientists involved in the nuclear program. Iran retaliated with strikes on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
A few hours before the attack, Mr. Trump said he wanted Israel to hold off while he tried to negotiate.
“I want to have an agreement with Iran. We’re fairly close to the agreement,” he said at the White House. “As long as I think there is an agreement, I don’t want them going in because that would blow it.”
The U.S. also took precautions by moving all non-essential staff out of its embassies in Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain.
The President’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, was scheduled to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oman on Sunday for negotiations over Tehran nuclear program. Iran said it would not go in the wake of Israel’s airstrikes.
A timeline of the Israel-Iran conflict and tensions between the two countries
In 2018, Mr. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which traded sanctions relief for Tehran for measures meant to stop the country from developing nuclear weapons, saying the deal was too generous to Iran. He has subsequently sought to negotiate a new deal.
If the war further unravels Mr. Trump’s quest for an agreement, it will be another setback to his efforts to cast himself as a peacemaker.
When he returned to office in January, he promised to swiftly end Russia’s war on Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza. But both of those efforts, which are also being led by Mr. Witkoff, a New York real estate developer and close friend of Mr. Trump’s, are also stalled.
The President’s own Republican Party appeared split on Israel’s actions. “Game on. Pray for Israel,” tweeted Senator Lindsey Graham, a frequent golfing partner of Mr. Trump’s.
Charlie Kirk, a top MAGA influencer, pointed to the gulf between the isolationist streak in Mr. Trump’s movement and Israel setting the stage for a war. “The e-mails are so largely overwhelmingly against Israel doing this,” he said on his podcast.
Bernie Sanders, the leftist independent senator, condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for attacking just two days before talks were supposed to take place. “We must not be dragged into another Netanyahu war.”
Prem Kumar, a former White House national-security official during the Obama administration, said Mr. Netanyahu appeared to have calculated correctly that he could ignore Mr. Trump’s quest for a deal because the President would ultimately support him anyway.
“It’s pretty clear that Trump did not want the Israelis to strike. He is now trying to position himself as being partially in the driver’s seat and responsible for what seems like a short-term victory. But in reality, he is very much reacting to events and Bibi is in the driver’s seat,” Mr. Kumar said, using Mr. Netanyahu’s nickname.
He said the Iranian regime cannot make a deal with “the country cheering on the strikes” without looking weak before its own population. Nor would they have any guarantee that an agreement would stop Israel from continuing to attack. “The idea that this will increase the chances of a deal verges on ludicrous.”