Report: Trump Declined To Back Israeli Attack on Iran in Favor of Diplomacy

For now, the administration is pursuing diplomacy, but the threat of military action remains

by Dave DeCamp April 16, 2025

https://news.antiwar.com/2025/04/16/report-trump-declined-to-back-israeli-attack-on-iran-in-favor-of-diplomacy/

President Trump declined an Israeli plan to attack Iran with US support as soon as next month in favor of attempting diplomacy with Tehran over its civilian nuclear program, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The report said Israel developed plans to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities that would have required significant US support. The initial Israeli plan would have involved a bombing campaign with Israeli commando raids on Iranian nuclear sites in hopes that American aircraft would be involved.

The commando plan would have taken months to prepare, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was looking to attack Iran this May, so the plan shifted to a prolonged bombing campaign that would last over a week. The idea would be to destroy Iran’s air defenses and then start targeting nuclear facilities.

Officials told the Times that Trump made the decision to hold off on the attack after months of internal debate within the administration. The rough consensus, at least for now, is that the US should hold off on the military option to pursue negotiations.

The report said that Vice President JD Vance told the president that he had a unique opportunity to reach a deal with Iran, but he said that if the negotiations failed, Trump could then support the Israeli attack.

Axios also reported on the divide between the administration, with some officials supporting the negotiations and others being more skeptical and leaning toward bombing Iran, even though US intelligence agencies have recently reaffirmed there’s no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon.

The Axios report said that Vance was the unofficial leader of the officials pushing for diplomacy with Iran and supporting the idea of the US making compromises. Other officials in favor of this approach include Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy who is leading the negotiations with Iran, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

The officials against diplomacy include Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. Trump is also under pressure from US Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) to take military action against Iran.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran and is currently conducting a major bombing campaign in Yemen. In recent weeks, the US has deployed additional bombers, another aircraft carrier, and other air assets to threaten Iran. Those assets are also being used to ramp up attacks on Yemen.

The Times report said that in an internal meeting this month, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently presented an intelligence assessment that found the US military buildup in the Middle East could potentially spark a wider conflict with Iran that the United States did not want.

It remains unclear how the negotiations between the US and Iran will play out. Both sides spoke positively of the talks that occurred this past weekend, but the Trump administration has sent mixed signals since then and continues to increase sanctions on Iran.

Hawks in the US and Israel are pushing for a deal that would involve the full dismantlement of Iran’s civilian nuclear program, which is a non-starter for Tehran. Witkoff recently suggested the US would be happy with a deal to limit Iranian enrichment to 3.67%, but he appeared to walk that back the following day, saying any agreement must “eliminate nuclear enrichment” altogether.