As the dust settles after the 12-day war, Donald Trump is now loudly taking credit for ending the conflict. But make no mistake, he’s hardly the peacemaker he’s claiming to be. Especially considering that he helped start this war in the first place. His reckless decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities further fueled the fire. None of this, however, should come as a surprise.
Ever since Israel launched its attacks on Iran and urged the U.S. to join in, much of the media commentary has centred on how Trump appeared stuck, with his choices essentially boiling down to two. He could either stay true to his anti-war campaign promises and stay out of the conflict altogether or risk alienating his MAGA base by dragging the country into yet another war in the Middle East on behalf of Israel.
However, to anyone paying attention, it became increasingly clear that it was never a choice, and he had already decided what he was going to do. This became especially evident in his response to a viral conversation between Tucker Carlson and Steven Bannon – two of Trump’s most prominent media allies – in which Carlson criticized U.S. involvement in the attack, arguing it ran counter to the President’s “America First” agenda. Trump shot back, insisting that he’s the one who came up with “America First”, and only he can decide what it means.
Moreover, throughout the conflict, Trump stood firmly behind the justification provided by Netanyahu for his attack – that Iran was months, if not weeks, away from developing a nuclear warhead (a claim he’d been repeating for over 30 years) – all the while ignoring key American intelligence suggesting otherwise. In fact, when asked about his own Director of Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard’s claim in March that Iran was not trying to build any nuclear weapons, Trump’s response was that he “doesn’t care what she said”, insisting that “they were very close”.
It wasn’t just this, though. Trump also doubled down on his aggressive tone towards Iran, calling for its “complete surrender” while also claiming that the United States had complete control over Iranian airspace. Not that there was much need left but these statements were further confirmation of an already active U.S. involvement in the conflict. So even before he publicly declared his intentions to bomb Iran, his warlike posturing was already starting to alienate not only the right-wing MAGA-verse but also some of the centrists or independents who were convinced that he was going to end U.S. involvement in foreign wars once and for all.
To be fair to them, Trump did go out of his way on the campaign trail to try and convince them that he was the peace candidate. Bizarrely, he even visited Dearborn, Michigan, and promised its Arab-majority residents – already disillusioned with the Biden administration over its complicity in the Gaza genocide – that he would bring lasting peace in the Middle East.
All lies, of course; and if it wasn’t clear then, it became painfully obvious as soon as he was elected. In January, Trump proposed America taking over the entire Gaza strip, levelling it, relocating 2 million Palestinians, and turning it into “the Riviera of the Middle East”. He kept reiterating his proposal over the coming days, much to the delight of the Israelis, even after the U.N. officials called the move tantamount to ethnic cleansing.
On top of that, Trump’s picks for nearly all the key positions in his cabinet were Zionist hardliners. His Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, had openly pushed for U.S. military support to help Israel “finish the job” in Gaza, regardless of the civilian casualties. Pete Hegseth, his new Secretary of Defense and an extremist Christian Zionist who proudly shows off his crusades-inspired tattoos, had repeatedly called for aggressive U.S. support for Israel. Mike Huckabee, Trump’s pick for the U.S. ambassador to Israel and another Christian Zionist, believes there’s no such thing as an Israeli “occupation” and had recently gone as far as to suggest that Trump had a divine mandate to defend Israel. With such voices shaping his foreign policy from the onset of his Presidency, it’s really no wonder that Trump has gone all out in favor of Israel.
Trump’s close relationship with Netanyahu is another reason why no one should be surprised by his decision to fulfil Netanyahu’s decades-long dream of U.S. bombing Iran. During his first term, Trump went far beyond precedent in his support for Israel. Among his most notable moves were relocating the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognising Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, authorizing the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, and playing a central role in the Abraham Accords. Even before the 2024 elections, Trump hosted Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago and offered his full backing in the Gaza war. Later, despite his promises to Arab-Americans, he vowed to give Netanyahu a free hand in the region. So it was hardly unreasonable to believe that, if ever forced to choose between Netanyahu’s interests and regional peace, Trump would almost certainly choose the former.
In his inaugural address, Trump expressed his desire to be remembered not for the wars he started but for the ones he ended. He said his proudest legacy would be that of a “peacemaker” and a “unifier”. His role in the Iran-Israel war suggests anything but. It’s still unclear whether the ceasefire agreement will hold or not. But regardless of how the situation develops, the myth of Trump ever being a peacemaker has been permanently shattered.
