>>507750761He then campaigned in 2024 on promises to enable Israel to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. He threatened to blow all of Iran to "smithereens." He appointed career anti-Iran hawks to prominent Administration positions. He pledged to back Israel far more aggressively than Biden. He surrounded himself with the most hardcore "pro-Israel" donors. He amplified the claim that Iran had tried to assassinate him.
He got into office in 2025 and started vowing to bomb Iran if they didn't "make a deal" within an insanely compressed timeline of 60 days. The ensuing negotiations were handed off to his personal envoy Steve Witkoff, who declared that the only acceptable "deal" from a US standpoint would be for Iran to dismantle its nuclear facilities and eliminate all uranium enrichment. Witkoff, Rubio, and Trump repeatedly reiterated this transparently untenable "negotiating" position. Everyone knew Iran would never accept such a "deal," which would be tantamount to a self-inflicted national humiliation and forfeiture of sovereignty. He resumed the "maximum pressure" policy of "crippling sanctions." He proclaimed that he would "take over" Gaza and turn it into a US military protectorate. He unleashed the spigot of heavy munitions to Israel. He green-lit an accelerated annihilation offensive in Gaza. He launched a government-wide effort to punish and stifle speech critical of Israel.