Administration

Trump says Israel did not talk him into Iran strikes

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by Mallory Wilson - 04/20/26 11:31 AM ET

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by Mallory Wilson - 04/20/26 11:31 AM ET

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President Trump said Monday that he was not influenced by Israel to attack Iran, as reports and critics say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed the president into launching strikes.

“Israel never talked me into the war with Iran, the results of Oct. 7th, added to my lifelong opinion that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON, did,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday.

“I watch and read the FAKE NEWS Pundits and Polls in total disbelief,” he wrote. “90% of what they say are lies and made up stories, and the polls are rigged, much as the 2020 Presidential Election was rigged,” he added.

A New York Times report from earlier this month detailed how Netanyahu gave a detailed presentation on Iran to Trump and his team in February after months of pressing him to join Israel in striking Iran.

Almost two months into the war, polls show most Americans are opposed to it. A Politico poll released last week found 38 percent of Americans back the strikes, while 41 percent say Trump does not have a plan to resolve the war.

Trump also said in his post that “the results in Iran will be amazing.”

“And if Iran’s new leaders (Regime Change!) are smart, Iran can have a great and prosperous future!” he wrote.

The post comes as the United States is preparing for another round of peace talks with Iran in Pakistan with the two-week-long ceasefire set to expire Tuesday night.

Iran appears undecided in starting up peace talks again as a U.S. blockade on Iranian ports is still in place. An American destroyer fired on and seized an Iranian ship Sunday for trying to get around the blockade, further fueling tensions.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), during a Monday morning appearance on Fox Business, accused Trump of letting Israel’s leader pull him into the war with Iran.

“All Trump did is listen to Netanyahu — that’s his entire foreign policy. I resent the fact that Israel is going to tell the U.S. what to do. The American president should call the shots in this country,” Khanna said.

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