Trump responded to talk of a joint U.S.–Israeli strike on Iran, following his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Feb. 4.
President Donald Trump has expressed hopes to avoid direct military conflict with Iran and to see the nation prosper—but under the condition that it does not pursue a nuclear weapon.
“I want Iran to be a great and successful Country, but one that cannot have a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social account on Feb. 5.
On Feb. 4, Trump reinstated the “maximum pressure” strategy of his first administration, which saw the United States withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and impose new economic sanctions against the country.
Trump announced the revived Iran sanctions strategy on the same day he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Feb. 4. Netanyahu is the first foreign head of state to visit with Trump since the start of his new administration.
While meeting in the Oval Office, the two heads of state faced questions about whether Israel and the United States would conduct joint strikes targeting Iran, including its nuclear facilities. Trump addressed this in his Feb. 5 post.
“Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens,’ ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED,” he wrote.
While Trump dismissed the idea of the United States and Israel proactively attacking Iran in a joint strike, he remains open to a heavy U.S. retaliation if Iran tries to kill him or members of his first administration who pushed for the 2020 assassination strike on Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
“If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end. I’ve left instructions. If they do it, they get obliterated. There won’t be anything left,” Trump said as he and Netanyahu took questions from reporters on Tuesday.
Trump continued to pivot away from the idea of open hostilities with Iran in his Feb. 5 social media post, suggesting he would instead prefer to negotiate a new deal to limit Iran’s nuclear force aspirations and otherwise leave Iran in peace.
“I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper. We should start working on it immediately, and have a big Middle East Celebration when it is signed and completed. God Bless the Middle East!” Trump wrote.
As he hosted Netanyahu on Tuesday, Trump discussed how to resolve another Middle East flashpoint: the Gaza Strip.
The president has suggested that the population of the Gaza Strip be cleared out and relocated to neighboring countries such as Egypt and Jordan, potentially permanently. Israel’s Arab neighbors have since insisted that the long-running Israeli–Palestinian conflict be resolved through a two-state solution and rejected calls for the Palestinians to relinquish their claim to any more land in their ongoing territorial dispute with Israel.
Trump appeared to modify his Gaza proposal on Tuesday night, suggesting the United States could “take over” and rebuild it as a place where Israelis, Palestinians, and other ethnicities in the region would live together.