As the world woke to news of Israel’s attacks, Trump desperately tried to save face
One loses count of the occasions Donald Trump has claimed something terrible would not have happened had he been in the White House and not Joe Biden – the bodged withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Hamas’s Oct 7 2023 attack on Israel.
No matter. Once he was returned to the Oval Office he’d quickly bring the various conflicts to an end. Some within 24 hours.
Israel’s attack on Iran, targeting several military and nuclear sites and killing a number of senior generals and scientists, and Iran’s retaliation, has exposed Trump’s talk for what it was – just bluster.
Bear in mind, the decision by Benjamin Netanyahu to launch the strikes and in doing so risk triggering a wider conflict, came as the US remains still engaged with talks with Iran to try and make a deal over its nuclear programme.
Trump told Reuters in a phone interview on Friday that the US still has nuclear talks planned with Iran on Sunday but that he is not sure if they will still take place. He said it was not too late for Iran to make a deal.
“I tried to save Iran humiliation and death,” Trump said.
Israel did not like the terms of the deal, just as it vociferously opposed the one struck by the UK, the US, France, Russia and China in 2015. Trump pulled the US out of that arrangement during his first term – a major reason Washington has been scrambling to now make a new one.
Israel claimed its attack in the early hours of Friday was “preemptive” and intended to stop Iran getting a nuclear weapon, something it already possesses.
Iran’s response on Saturday – hitting Tel Aviv and killing three Israelis – comes after a previous assault saw 200 ballistic missiles launched at Israel in Oct 2024.
Iran said they were revenge operations after Israel assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and General Abbas Nilforoushan, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Though the US made clear it was not involved in the initial strike on Iran, America has at least 40,000 troops stationed at different locations in the Middle East. There have already been strikes on scores of bases in Iraq, Syria and Jordan by militias linked to Iran, as Israel’s assault on Gaza continued.
A day ahead before the strikes, Trump – who had clearly been told what was coming – was asked by reporters if an attack was imminent.
“I don’t want to say imminent, but it looks like it’s something that could very well happen,” he said.
The attack by Israel has shown the limitations of Trump’s influence on America’s closest ally in the region, a country to which it has given at least $20bn in military aid since the Oct 7 attack.
That money has helped the Israeli Defence Forces launch military operations in Gaza that have killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, a death toll that seems almost never mentioned by Trump when he speaks with leaders in the region.
In regard to Russia and Ukraine, the US can be given credit for forcing both sides to at least talk and agree prisoner swaps. But Trump’s handling of the situation – including his public humiliation of Volodymyr Zelensky and his frequent defence of Vladimir Putin’s positions – has been both naive and amateur. The war still rages.
For all his purported wish to stop killing around the globe, a new report by the Institute for the Study of War suggests one million Russian troops have lost their lives since the Feb 2022 invasion. An estimated 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed.
As the world woke to news of Israel’s attacks, Trump desperately tried to save face, suggesting on social media he’d given Iran “chance after chance to make a deal” but they’d decided not to.
In an interview with ABC News he described the strikes as “excellent”.
“We gave them a chance and they didn’t take it … They got hit about as hard as you’re going to get hit,” he said. “And there’s more to come. A lot more.”
The world now waits anxiously to see how bad things might get before they get better. How large will Iran’s response be? What role might the US have in using its assets to take down missiles before they rain down on Israel. If so, will someone decide the US is also a legitimate target?
And in this strange and tense environment, it was reported that Trump envoy Steve Witkoff still intends to proceed with its sixth round US-Iran talks on Sunday in Oman.
For everyone’s sake, let’s hope they are successful.
