PRESIDENT TRUMP arrived in the Netherlands to meet with world leaders at the NATO summit Tuesday, with a fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran holding, for now.
Early Tuesday, it appeared as if the Trump-brokered deal between the warring nations might fall through, with Israel dispatching fighter jets to retaliate after Iran conducted a deadly strike.
Trump appeared to intervene in real time, posting on Truth Social:
“ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!”
Before embarking on his trip, Trump cursed Israel and Iran in front of cameras on live TV.
“They don’t know what the f— they’re doing,” he said.
Trump unloaded on Israel in a way that he has rarely, if ever, done in public.
“[Iran] violated it. But Israel violated it, too,” Trump said.
“Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I’d never seen before,” Trump added. “The biggest load that we’ve seen. I’m not happy with Israel.”
But Israel called off its retaliatory strike, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying Trump convinced him to end the war entirely in a phone call.
“Pursuant to the conversation between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israel has refrained from additional attacks,” Netanyahu’s office said.
If the peace holds, it could be a major win for Trump, with the U.S. unilaterally striking at Iran’s nuclear capabilities while avoiding a wider war and regime change — for now.
“I want to see everything calm down as quickly as possible,” Trump told reporters during his flight to the NATO Summit. “Regime change takes chaos, and ideally we don’t want to see much chaos. You know, the Iranians are very good traders, very good business people.”
Vice President Vance lauded what he described as Trump’s foreign policy doctrine.
“We are seeing a foreign policy doctrine develop that will change the country (and the world) for the better: 1) clearly define an American interest; 2) negotiate aggressively to achieve that interest; 3) use overwhelming force if necessary,” he posted on X.
Praise for Trump’s actions has been trickling in from surprising places.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who lost to Trump in a nasty 2016 presidential primary, posted on X:
“President Trump’s decision to neutralize Iran’s regime’s nuclear program is a watershed moment. It reasserts U.S. strength, restores deterrence, and sends an unmistakable message to rogue regimes: the era of impunity is over.”
The House on Tuesday rejected an effort by Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) to impeach Trump over the Iran strikes in a 344-79 vote, with 128 Democrats joining Republicans to table the measure.
Still, uncertainty remains.
A new bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned of a “heightened threat environment” from pro-Iranian actors, who have a “long-standing commitment to target US Government officials.”
DHS said 11 Iranian nationals illegally in the U.S. were arrested over the weekend.
Trump’s border czar Tom Homan warned that Iranian terror cells pose a “significant threat.”
And there are questions about how much damage the U.S. did to Iran’s nuclear capabilities, with CNN reporting one early intelligence assessment said the nuclear sites were not destroyed and may have only setback by months.
The New York Times reported that the intelligence assessment estimated the program was delayed less than six months.
It’s an initial assessment and one that could change, the outlets reported. The White House denied the reports.
“The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”
