Donald Trump just bombed the same adversary he insisted he was “very close” to striking a peace deal with only the day before.
Military forces stationed in the Middle East engaged in a tit-for-tat series of strikes with Iran after Tehran downed a U.S. helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz. The Financial Times called it “the biggest flare-up between the warring parties since they agreed to a fragile ceasefire two months ago.”
The Pentagon said its “self-defense strikes” targeted “air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites.” It described those strikes as “a proportional response to recent attacks on U.S. forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters.”
Trump had claimed in comments to reporters Monday night that he was “very close to signing a very powerful deal, a very good deal” for an end to his conflict with the Iranian regime. He doubled down on that position with a Truth Social post later in the evening, writing that “final negotiations are proceeding, subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way.”
The current flare-up began on Sunday afternoon when Israel attacked Iranian-aligned Hezbollah forces in Beirut. Iran responded by launching strikes against targets in Israel, and Israel responded by launching strikes against targets in Iran.
Trump was eager to stress that he remained in control as the situation escalated. “I call the shots. I call all the shots,” he told the FT after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the initial strikes against Hezbollah without first consulting the U.S.
“I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate,” Trump added in comments to Axios about Iran’s response to Israeli attacks on Lebanon. “Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike, and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one.”
Netanyahu does not appear to have agreed, charging ahead with the second round of Israeli strikes on targets in Iran. Trump was quick to backpedal on his earlier position, telling reporters he had only told the Israeli prime minister “to do what’s right” over Iran’s response.
“He was hit, and he hit back, and I can’t blame him for that,” the president said. “But now they have called it quits. They’re gonna leave each other alone, for… another week, or something.”
The president was technically right. Israel and Iran have not exchanged fire since Netanyahu’s salvo on Monday, even if it did not stop Iran from downing the U.S. helicopter over the strait on Tuesday.
“There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured,” Trump posted on Truth Social after the aircraft went down. “Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.” Iranian forces say the resulting U.S. strikes hit several locations along Iran’s southern coast, damaging water and communications infrastructure.
Tehran now says it has fired back following the U.S. response to Iranian forces shooting the helicopter out of the sky, by launching a fresh wave of drone attacks against American naval assets in Bahrain and a U.S. air base in Jordan.
A U.S. official told the Financial Times that Iran had also fired “multiple missiles and drones” at assets in Kuwait—which Tehran has not confirmed—but insisted there were “no indications Iran was successful in striking intended targets.”
Trump marked the launch of U.S. attacks along Iran’s southern coast, which the Pentagon had described as a “proportional response,” by sharing a clip from The West Wing on Truth Social, featuring the fictional President Jed Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen.
“Let the word ring forth from this time and this place,” Bartlet says in the scene. “You kill an American, any American, we don’t come back with a proportional response, we come back with total disaster!”
No U.S. service personnel were killed when the helicopter went down. The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.
