Furious. That was Donald Trump early Tuesday.
He wasn’t mad at Iran. Well, he was, but mostly at Israel for jeopardizing his Nobel Peace Prize ambitions.
Long story short, Iran lobbed a volley of missiles “in the last minutes” (as the IRGC put it) before the ceasefire Trump brokered went into effect. The Guards were responding to a series of Israeli strikes which were underway when Trump announced the truce. The final Iranian barrage killed at least four Israelis at an apartment complex in Beersheba, an intolerable result if you’re Israel. Defense minister Israel Katz pledged to respond.
It’s not entirely clear what happened next, but Trump exhorted Israel against additional strikes. “DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS,” he wrote, on TruthSocial. “IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME NOW.” He signed the message “DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,” just in case the IDF was unclear about whose social media feed they were perusing.
Later, while regaling the press en route to the NATO summit in The Hague (which should be a circus all its own), Trump lamented that Israel “unloaded” shortly after he convinced Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a truce. “Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I’ve never seen before,” Trump said, before reiterating: “The biggest load that we’ve seen.” Here’s the clip:
Trump’s remarks suggest Israel violated the spirit of his truce, but not the letter. “When I say, ok, you have 12 hours, you don’t just go out in the first hour and drop everything you have on them,” he complained. Then came the emphatic summation: “We have two countries that’ve been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f-ck they’re doing.”
Around the same time, maybe even while aboard Marine One, Trump took to TruthSocial again to promise that Israel “is not going to attack Iran.” “All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘Plane Wave’,” he declared. “Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect!”
This has the potential to be a very frustrating experience for Trump. The Israelis don’t do well with other nations assuming to dictate to them what they can and can’t do to ensure their own national security interests. And they take American support for granted.
So, no, the fact that Trump just did Netanyahu the biggest favor any American president could do for Israel means very little two days later. This is always a “What have you done for me lately?” arrangement. Where “lately” means in the past 24 hours.
Earlier, Netanyahu said Israel “achieved all the goals” it set for the war with Iran, and declared the “immediate” threat from Tehran’s nuclear problem neutralized. But don’t kid yourself: Netanyahu doesn’t want this war to end, nor any other wars to which Israel’s a party. Because peace is an enormous risk to his political survival.
Iran, meanwhile, gloated which doesn’t help. Former officials, IRGC mouthpieces and state television all claimed that Tehran “imposed” a ceasefire on Israel and that Monday’s “attacks” on America’s military bases in Qatar and Iraq made Trump regret his decision to bomb Fordo.
No one, least of all Tehran, believes any of that, of course. It’s absurd to the point of being completely backwards: By bombing Fordo, Trump forced the Iranians into submission and in fact, the missiles launched at the Al Udeid Air Base on Monday were a de-escalation tantamount to a white flag. (Indeed, Iran followed their own de-escalation-by-missile playbook, conveying to Washington ahead of time that the point of the barrage was to save face domestically. In doing so, they indicated that the US should consider the volley a de facto surrender.)
But the Iranian propaganda, silly as it is, is too much for this Israeli government. They can’t stand it. It’s not enough to humiliate Iran in front of the world. It’s not enough that Netanyahu duped Trump into entering the conflict. It’s not enough that Iran has lost its nuclear program, its air defenses, its top military command and its capacity to project across the region. No, Israel wants a total defeat. They want Khamenei dead and they want the regime to beg for mercy. In short: They don’t want peace, just like Vladimir Putin doesn’t want peace in Eastern Europe.
According to a White House official, Trump had a “firm and direct” call with Netanyahu about respecting the ceasefire. “The prime minister understood the severity of the situation,” the official said.
Welcome to the Middle East, Donny.
I guess MIGA (make Iran great again ?) through regime change may be the last item on the list of goals.
What a wacko. The epitome of stupidity and arrogance in what appears to be a human form.
Well put.
Perhaps Iran knows Israel better than Trump does. Netanyahu can see how Putin is playing Trump. But I think this one goes to Iran.
Interesting how Trump bounced from “make deal with Iran” to “unconditional surrender” to “make peace”. If the goal is to permanently deny Iran nuclear weapons, a ceasefire seems retrograde or orthogonal to progress. I suppose Trump’s faith in his own deal-making prowess is such that he thinks Khamenei will promptly come out of his bunker and agree to zero enrichment.
We have Mad King Donald vs. Netanyahu vs. the Ayatollah in a cage match. All hate each other, all are nuts, won’t end well, but the match will continue.
sounds right. +1 for Bibi – what’s the line on DraftKings?
Remember, Hulk Hogan and Linda McMahon are already on Donnie’s side. Sadly, the Iron Sheik passed away a couple of years ago.
It occurs to me that Trump’s angry and emboldened attitude does not bode well for Liberation Day Redux in July.
Not that anyone anymore anycare about tariffs, which apparently will cause neither price increases, margin contraction, nor demand erosion, no, several hundred $billion annually of tariff taxes will be paid by foreigners . . . if only Powell could grasp that.
Just to refresh his fading powers of memory, Sir Donald needs to own up to the fact we actually flew the missions in our planes from good old Missouri and dropped our bombs on Iran. Israel didn’t do this one .. day of rest …
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/us/politics/iran-nuclear-sites.html?unlocked_article_code=1.RU8.3OK1.uedigQmY0AYm&smid=nytcore-android-share
“Totally obliterated” = “Set them back months.”
Yeah, see my editorial in the Daily I just sent out. It’s in your inbox. The question (one question) is how are the Iranians going to go back there? To Fordo, I mean. Everyone on Earth’s watching that site. It’s not as if they can just return to the ant hill and go right to work getting it back up and running. Ultimately, though, it’s probably going to dawn on Trump eventually that this isn’t a job that’s ever going to be “done” absent an invasion or a regime change that results in an overtly friendly government willing to earnestly engage the international community about what all’s actually there (including any secretive sites), where it all is, what should be done about it and so on. Since the latter’s far-fetched, and because there’s no public support for an invasion, I gotta believe we haven’t seen the last of the US bombs, and I know we haven’t seen the last Israeli strikes and/or assassinations.
I just saw your editorial. However motivated the regime was to build a weapon has been adjusted by the joint strikes. Ironically, Trump’s demand for a ceasefire actually benefits Iran in this scenario. I don’t know if they try to get back into Fordo or not but the Economist actually identified that Iran had been researching Ultra-High Performance Concrete with the objective of ameliorating the threat of the MOP.
Gift Link…
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How do America’s huge bunker-busting bombs work?
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2025/06/18/how-do-americas-huge-bunker-busting-bombs-work?giftId=752c9f42-b118-4710-9c65-5b01a38e175b&utm_campaign=gifted_article
Yep. Welcome to the big leagues DJT, where you can’t hide what you don’t know. Your about to be schooled: “…and I know we haven’t seen the last Israeli strikes and/or assassinations…”
From “total obliteration” to . . . https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-24/us-finding-says-strikes-had-limited-impact-on-iran-nuke-program
The last time Trump intervened in the Iran issue, he pushed Iran further down the path to nuclear weapons. This time, he may have pushed them even further – unless he buckles down and stop chasing “Mission Accomplished” moments.
Why did he want a ceasefire? Did it help accomplish a goal?
Homie got played straight up and he is not liking it. (Can you say, “Israel’s little btch?”) I love seeing him drop f-bombs on the press. America needs to see what a petulant child he really is. Maybe he can throw some “gddammits” in there next time as well, and finally start to challenge some of his evangelist’s supporters ideas about him.
Sorry about the italics and missing asterisks, I am not sure how that happened.
“Did you see my big, beautiful planes? They made big booms! Who’s better than me?
Greenland better watch out now, because I got more of those big, beautiful planes.”
Razing is all the rage for Bibi and, as a self-professed builder, Mar-A-Lardo is not constitutionally equipped for this operation. Trump seems at least peripherally aware that it’s easier to destroy than build, given his recent domestic “successes.” It might not be that hard for Bibi to goad him into extending that approach internationally — just present him with a faux-golden “Der Nobel-Priz far Shalom” and remind him that Jimmy Carter’s shoes don’t have lifts.
“President Trump said he doesn’t think a nuclear deal with Iran is necessary after the U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites”, from WSJ.