President Donald Trump is lashing out at critics and angrily denying that Israel’s government convinced him to launch the nearly two-month-old war against Iran that has roiled global markets and sent energy prices soaring amid an ongoing Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Writing on Truth Social on Monday, Trump claimed Israel “never talked me into war with Iran.”
“The results of Oct. 7th, added to my lifelong opinion that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON, did,” he said.
The president’s denial directly contradicts what Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in early March during the opening days of the war.
During a brief press availability at the Capitol, Rubio — who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser — said Trump was forced into a preemptive response after learning of an imminent Israeli attack, as officials knew such an attack would trigger retaliation against US military personnel in the Middle East.
“It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone – the United States or Israel or anyone – they were going to respond, and respond against the United States,” he said.
Since then, a steady stream of Trump-aligned influencers, commentators and other prominent GOP figures have repeatedly argued that Trump was goaded into war by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One such personality, ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson, claimed in an April 12 interview with the BBC that
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