Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s attempts to distance the U.S. from Israel’s strikes on Iran just got even more complicated.
In response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bombing Iran on Thursday—even after Trump asked him not to—the president warned Iran in a social media post that things “will only get worse” if Tehran doesn’t “make a deal” with Washington.
Trump had reportedly asked Netanyahu on Monday to wait to strike Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities until all diplomatic options had been exhausted.
The U.S. and Iran were scheduled to have a sixth round of nuclear talks in Oman this weekend, and on Thursday night, Trump reiterated on social media that his administration remained committed to diplomatic resolution.
Hours later, though, Netanyahu announced what he called a “pre-emptive strike” against Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities, killing the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and his military chief of staff, two nuclear scientists, and at least a dozen civilians, according to Iranian state media.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio quickly put out a statement saying the Israeli attacks were “unilateral” and that Iran should not retaliate against U.S. interests or personnel.
But in a rambling social media post early Friday morning, Trump threatened “even more brutal strikes” against Iran.
“I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come,” Trump wrote.
“Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!” he added.
In a follow-up post, he wrote that, “Two months ago I gave Iran a 60-day ultimatum to ‘make a deal.’ They should have done it! Today is day 61. I told them what to do, but they just couldn’t get there. Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!”
Both Iran and the Trump administration have said they wanted to make a deal, with Trump eager to notch a diplomatic win and Iran looking for relief from painful economic sanctions. The first rounds of talks were mostly indirect, but were described as “positive” and “respectful,” according to CNBC.
This week, though, the talks seemed to hit an impasse.
On Wednesday, the president accused Tehran of “delaying,” while Iranian officials said Washington was not engaging seriously on the issue of sanctions or respecting the country’s right to enrich uranium at lower levels to generate nuclear power.
Trump has warned that the U.S. or Israel could bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities if negotiations failed, leading Iran’s defense minister to tell the Iranian press on Wednesday, “In that case, America will have to leave the region, because all of its bases are within our reach,” The Guardian reported.
The State Department responded that it was instructing “non-essential” diplomatic staff and their families to leave the embassies in Baghdad, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
On Thursday, the day of the Israeli strikes, the UN’s nuclear watchdog group, the International Atomic Energy Agency, passed a resolution saying Iran was not complying with its nuclear safeguards obligations for the first time in nearly two decades.
Netanyahu called Iran’s nuclear program a “clear and present danger to Israel’s very survival” and vowed to continue Operation Rising Lion for “as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”
Israeli sources are now saying the U.S. supported the strikes all along and only pretended to oppose them to keep Iran from suspecting the attack, Axios reported. During Monday’s call, Trump didn’t actually try to delay the strikes—Netanyahu’s aides just told reporters that so Israel could maintain the element of surprise, sources told the outlet.
Trump has acknowledged that he knew about the strike ahead of time but said the U.S. was not involved militarily. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
In his Friday Truth Social post, Trump wrote, “There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!”
A U.S. official told Reuters that Sunday’s talks will still go forward as planned.
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