Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that it would only take one phone call for President Donald Trump to end Israel’s attacks on Iran:

If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential. Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue. It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu. That may pave the way for a return to diplomacy.

If only it were that simple. The power of the Israel Lobby makes the prospect of the United States distancing itself from Israel extremely difficult. If Trump followed the Iranian foreign minister’s advice, picked up the phone, and confronted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it would be a powerful signal that Trump was different from the Washington establishment beholden to Israeli interests. It remains to be seen if Trump has the strength to take on the lobby and Jewish power.

According to Professor John Mearsheimer, the Israelis set a trap for President Trump. While negotiations were taking place between the United States and Iran, the Israelis launched their strike. Kevin MacDonald offers readers an astute synopsis and paraphrase of Mearsheimer’s interview with Andrew Napolitano about the attack:

Trump was trapped by [the] Israelis—once [the] attack happened (against the president’s expressed wishes) the forces for war (Israel Lobby, etc.) were too much, so that he would have a political disaster if he disowned Israel. As I noted, “Trump is likely unhappy with what Israel did but will make the best of it and will defend Israel if it comes to that.” It has come to that.

Chris Hedges is convinced that war with Iran is folly. Hedges cited the neoconservative push that precipitated the disastrous wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya as proof that the loss of thousands of lives and the squandering of approximately $8 Trillion USD is evidence enough. Similarly, Tucker Carlson spoke with Steve Bannon about the prospect of US involvement in a direct war on Israel’s behalf with Iran and he speculated that it would end the Trump presidency and bring about the downfall of the republic. In recent months, Carlson has been critical of warmongering commentators on FOX News and in other parts of American Conservative Inc.

On Tuesday June 17, 2025, sources in Iran reported widespread internet disruption. Also on Tuesday, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he expected an unconditional surrender from Iran. It reads, in all-caps, “Unconditional Surrender!” Commentators assumed he was referring to the Iranian regime. An anonymous White House official informed the press that President Trump decided to convene his National Security Council on Tuesday as well to address the current Iran-Israel war.

Benjamin Netanyahu publicly stated that regime change in Iran is a strategic goal and that the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would end the war. The notion that decapitation strikes will solve Israel’s problems is far fetched.

Initially, President Trump was ambivalent about the extent to which the United States would become involved in the Iran-Israel conflict. On Wednesday June 18, when meeting with reporters outside the White House, Trump addressed the prospect of the United States conducting air strikes on Iran. Trump responded with “I may do it, I may not do it. I mean nobody knows what I’m going to do.”

Although Trump ultimately did give the order for strategic bombers to hit the Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan during the night of June 21 and 22, 2025, there is a ray of hope piercing the darkness that is Jewish power. Trump is not on board with what Israel and the lobby really want: the destruction of the current Iranian regime, which is euphemistically referred to as regime change. It is a testament to the power of the Israel Lobby when a sitting president has to bomb a country to get them off his back, but that is the reality. He kept the Israel Lobby from crucifying him publicly and bought himself time and ruled out any sort of regime change via ground invasion and a full-scale deployment of American forces for a combined-arms attack on Iran.

President Trump was forced into the airstrikes by the Israel Lobby. Kevin MacDonald, like John Mearsheimer, emphasises the power of the Israel Lobby. MacDonald writes “Basically the Israelis trapped Trump because of Netanyahu’s pre-emptive strike and the power of the Israel Lobby in the GOP and the media, making it politically non-viable to oppose Israel.” Even though Trump’s resistance to the wishes of the Jewish state has been hesitant there is the hope that he will find ways of incrementally wresting power from the gnarled clutches of neoconservative and Israeli lobbyists.

As a result of these attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, Americans were warned that their lives might be in Jeopardy in Qatar; American military personnel were attacked by Iranian missiles; among other events. According to Insider Paper’s Telegram account:

Trump administration was anticipating Tehran would retaliate after US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend, and the president does not want more military engagement in the region, a senior White House official told CNN today.

Interestingly, though, Iran made President Trump aware that their retaliatory strikes would be limited in scale and designed to minimize damage and potential casualties.

On Monday June 23, President Trump wrote about the ceasefire on Truth Social:

CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED!

In the same post, Trump continued:

During each CEASEFIRE, the other side will remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL. On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, “THE 12 DAY WAR.”

Predictably the Israelis attempted to violate the ceasefire shortly after it came into effect, which prompted a frustrated reaction from President Trump. During a brief media scrum interview on the White House lawn on Monday June 24, a visibly irritated president swore on camera. Trump said “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.” Despite these difficulties, the ceasefire between Israel and Iran has remained in place since June 25.

John Mearsheimer maintains his assertion that the latest US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, contrary to the narrative being pushed in the legacy press, will ironically ensure that Iran does indeed acquire nuclear weapons. Why would that be? Because every state that did not have nuclear weapons or gave up their nuclear programs were attacked by those beholden to the Zionist war hawks. Countries will push to acquire nuclear weapons in order to prevent invasion and destruction. Furthermore, air attacks alone will not eliminate the Iranian nuclear program.

Israel has been running amok in the region for decades confident that it can do whatever it wants. The absolute stranglehold that the Israel Lobby has on American politicians of the Left and the Right vis-à-vis the United States’ Middle East foreign policy has been acute for decades. In its hubris, the Jewish state has conducted genocide in Gaza, engaged in reckless military misadventures against nearly all of its neighbors, and precipitated the invasion of Europe and the wider west with unprecedented migrant outflows. The sooner Israel is brought to heel by a strong American president, the better it will be for United States and the Western world.

https://counter-currents.com/2025/07/trump-versus-the-israel-lobby