What is Trump’s stance on Iran?

Trump has repeatedly criticised Iran, called for an “unconditional surrender”, and floated the possibility of US action in Iran.

Leavitt mentioned in a routine White House briefing that Trump was looking to explore a diplomatic route with Iran, though his primary concern was to ensure that Iran was unable to develop a nuclear weapon.

What could Trump be weighing up on Iran?

“It seems he is currently caught between the isolationist MAGA [Make America Great Again] coalition base and an anti-Iran, pro-Israel foreign policy necessity,” he noted.

“The reason he might do it is because the Israelis believe that the Iranians are weeks away from creating nuclear weapons capability. The reason to not do it is because there’s no guarantee of success.”

What could US action in Iran look like?

Iran has warned of “all-out war” if the US joins the military action.

“The most likely scenario is they put something out there to save themselves and it will be debated whether it’s enough, and Donald Trump may or may not take it.”

“These are lessons of the Vietnam war, these are lessons of the Iraq war, and I see no sense that they really know what they want,” Widmaier said.

“I don’t think you need a PhD to see that, given the disastrous military interventions that are a history of US foreign policy.”

Could Donald Trump opt out of conflict?

Republican representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky said on X: “This is not our war. We should not engage our military here.”