U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he was looking for something 'better than a ceasefire' in the escalating Iran-Israel conflict.
The Associated Press
Donald Trump is threatening Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and demanding his regime’s unconditional surrender as he suggests that the United States could join Israel’s war against Tehran.
The U.S. President on Tuesday sought to turn up the pressure on Mr. Khamenei to give up all of Iran’s nuclear capability, even as the White House remained squeezed between Israel and MAGA isolationists over whether to get involved in the conflict. French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, delivered a sharp warning against the “chaos” that would follow a regime change in Tehran.
Israel, for its part, said it had taken out Iran’s top military commander and pounded ballistic-missile launchers in Isfahan on the fifth day of fighting between the two countries. Iran fired fewer retaliatory volleys at Israel than on previous days and stood alone internationally as most of its proxy groups declined to get involved in the fighting.
The Associated Press put the war’s death toll at 224 in Iran and 24 in Israel.
Shortly before convening a national security council meeting in the White House situation room Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Trump fired a social-media broadside at Mr. Khamenei.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that if Iran struck any civilians or U.S. military personnel in the region, he would retaliate. “We don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”
Three minutes later, he added: “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
The President also suggested the U.S. was already taking part in the war by virtue of Israel using American-made military equipment.
“We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” he wrote. “Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made, conceived, and manufactured ‘stuff.’”
The President had rushed back overnight from a G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., one day early to handle the U.S.’s response to the unfolding war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the surprise attack on Iran last week to take out the latter’s nuclear capabilities, ignoring a request from Mr. Trump for more time to negotiate with Tehran. Iran has since fired back with missiles striking Tel Aviv and other targets.
Since then, Mr. Trump, who has a history of preferring non-intervention in overseas wars and has branded himself a peacemaker since returning to office, has vacillated between encouraging Mr. Netanyahu and trying to rein him in.
At the President’s request, Mr. Netanyahu opted not to assassinate Mr. Khamenei when the Israeli military had an opportunity this past weekend, U.S. media reported. Mr. Netanyahu has reportedly pressed Mr. Trump to join the war in particular to get access to American “bunker busters,” 13.6-tonne bombs that could blow up Fordo, an underground Iranian nuclear facility.
Before leaving Canada, Mr. Trump said Iran was “basically at the negotiating table where they want to make a deal.” Later, on Air Force One, he told reporters that he might send his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff or Vice-President JD Vance to negotiate. He said he was aiming for “a real end” to Iran’s nuclear capability, which would result in the country “giving up entirely.”
What is the history between Israel and Iran? A timeline of tensions and hostilities
On Truth Social, the President appeared to take a harder line, warning that “everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!”, which has an estimated metropolitan population of nearly 17 million, and saying he had “not reached out to Iran for ‘Peace Talks’ in any way, shape, or form.”
Back in Alberta, Mr. Macron warned against trying to overthrow Mr. Khamenei’s regime.
“The biggest mistake today is to try to change the regime in Iran through military means, because that will be chaos,” he said during an exchange with reporters. “Does anyone think what was done in Iraq in 2003 was a good idea? Does anyone think what was done in Libya in the previous decade was a good idea? No.”
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while flying aboard Air Force One on Tuesday.Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press
Earlier, Mr. Macron said Mr. Trump was working on a “ceasefire,” which Mr. Trump denied, accusing Mr. Macron of “publicity seeking” and saying the French President “always gets it wrong.”
Mr. Vance, who has tended to espouse non-interventionist foreign-policy views, tried on Tuesday to prepare Mr. Trump’s base for the possibility of military action. He argued that Iran was enriching uranium above the level necessary for civilian power generation.
“The president has shown remarkable restraint in keeping our military’s focus on protecting our troops and protecting our citizens. He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment,” he tweeted. “People are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy. But I believe the president has earned some trust on this issue.”
Analysis: For the U.S., the crisis in Iran is the latest episode in a long, tortured history
Mr. Trump won election in 2016 in part by criticizing the “forever wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan. In his first term, he concluded a deal with the Taliban for U.S. and other NATO forces to pull out of Afghanistan. More recently, he has accused former president Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of risking “World War Three” by fighting back against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On the ground Tuesday, Israel said it killed Ali Shadmani, an Iranian general believed to be the top surviving adviser to Mr. Khamenei. Mr. Shadmani had only been in his job for a few days after Israel killed his predecessor, one of a string of high-level soldiers and nuclear scientists targeted by air strikes.
Iran, which has a wide array of proxies and allied groups across the Middle East, did not appear to be getting help from any of them other than the Houthis in Yemen. Even Hezbollah in Lebanon appeared to be watching from the sidelines.
In the U.S., meanwhile, another battle raged between members of Mr. Trump’s own political movement as some top figures expressed deep unease with the President potentially jumping into the sort of foreign war he has long abhorred.
On his podcast, Steve Bannon, Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist, wondered “how did it happen?” that the U.S. was moving aircraft carriers and refuelling aircraft closer to the Middle East in preparation for possible involvement in the conflict.
He compared the situation to then-president George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, which led to years of instability and hundreds of thousands of deaths.
“It was like Iraq: You’re inexorably just drawn, and decisions kind of just happen, it’s like what’s happened over the last 72 hours. How did we get to this point? How did this actually happen? Who made these decisions?” Mr. Bannon said.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia congresswoman, tweeted that “anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA,” and that such a move would “engulf the Middle East” and numerous countries outside it. “We are sick and tired of foreign wars.”
Mr. Netanyahu has taken his campaign for Mr. Trump’s involvement public, highlighting Iran’s retaliation against Israel. “Today, it’s Tel Aviv. Tomorrow, it’s New York. Look, I understand ‘America First.’ I don’t understand ‘America Dead,’” he told ABC News this week.
On his plane back from Canada, Mr. Trump seemed more convinced by the arguments of Mr. Netanyahu than by some in his own administration.
Reminded that Tulsi Gabbard, his Director of National Intelligence, told a congressional committee in March that the U.S. “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon,” Mr. Trump replied that she was wrong. “I don’t care what she said, I think they were very close to having them” before Israel’s air strikes, he said.