President Trump has offered mixed messages since Israel launched its military campaign against Iran last week, vacillating from a hands-off approach to embracing diplomacy to at times suggesting that he was weighing further U.S. involvement.
The contradictory comments have left a trail of confusion as Israelis, Iranians, and the broader Middle East try to understand whether the biggest conflict between Israel and Iran in history would escalate further and whether Mr. Trump, long opposed to foreign wars, would plunge the United States into one.
“It’s very puzzling,” said Shira Efron, director of research at Israel Policy Forum, a New York-based research group. “You’re seeing him say one thing and then another.”
On Friday, the first day of the war, Mr. Trump initially called Israel’s attacks “excellent” and “very successful,” but he also said that he believed a diplomatic solution between Israel and Iran was possible.
“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,” the president said. “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.”
The following day, Mr. Trump recounted a call with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, saying that both he and Mr. Putin said the battle between Israel and Iran should end. And on Sunday, he reinforced his stated position by saying Israel and Iran should make a deal.
“We will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran! Many calls and meetings now taking place,” he said in a post on Truth Social.
But late on Monday, Mr. Trump appeared to be adopting a more hawkish position as he left a Group of 7 summit in Canada early, saying he needed to return to Washington to deal with the conflict.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on his way back from Canada, Mr. Trump said that he was seeking a result that was “better than a cease-fire” between Israel and Iran. Asked what would qualify, he said “an end, a real end, not a cease-fire, a real end,” and said he wanted a “complete give-up” by Iran, but he did not make clear whether he meant an end to the conflict or a resolution to the Iranian nuclear issue, or both.
As for American involvement, Mr. Trump reiterated that the United States would not hesitate to use force against Iran if it attacked any U.S. targets. The United States has roughly 40,000 troops across the Middle East.
But he was more forceful on social media, saying that he was not returning to Washington to work on a cease-fire but rather something “much bigger” and that “AMERICA FIRST means many GREAT things, including the fact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON.”
He also indicated more violence was coming for Iran’s capital, which Israel has repeatedly struck with missiles: “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!”
The president has declined to say whether the United States would get involved militarily in the war in Iran. The United States, unlike Israel, possesses a 30,000-pound bomb that is believed to be capable of inflicting damage on Iran’s nuclear site in Fordo, which is built deep inside a mountain.
On Air Force One, Mr. Trump alluded to the possibility of sending administration officials — Vice President JD Vance and Steve Witkoff, his Middle East envoy — to meet with Iranian officials but later said on the flight, “I’m not too much in the mood to negotiate” with Iran.
Adam Rasgon is a reporter for The Times in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
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