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Trump to Iran: “Enough With the Attacks” — President Pushes for Peace Deal as Tensions Flare
President Trump is playing the role of global mediator once again, this time stepping between Israel and Iran as missiles fly and tempers flare. After Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel on Sunday, Trump didn’t reach for the war drum. Instead, he reached for the phone.
“What I would suggest to Iran: You’ve shot your missiles, that’s enough. Get back to the table and make a deal,” Trump told reporters. It’s a line that cuts through the noise of the foreign policy establishment, the same establishment that has been itching for a wider war in the Middle East for decades. But Trump sees something they don’t — an opportunity to end the cycle of violence that has trapped the region for, as he put it, “the last 47 years, or the last 3,000 years.”
The president wasn’t just talking tough to Tehran. He was on the line with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu too, urging restraint and warning that retaliation would only scuttle the fragile peace negotiations already underway. According to Axios, Trump told Netanyahu “not to strike back” and reminded him that “each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one.”
It’s the kind of straight talk that drives the neocons crazy but resonates with Americans who are tired of watching their sons and daughters shipped off to foreign conflicts with no clear objective and no end in sight. Trump is betting that a diplomatic solution is within reach, telling the New York Post that “things are going very well” in the ongoing talks and that a final deal could be signed as early as this week.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. Iran fired at least ten missiles at Israel on Sunday, claiming it was retaliation for Israeli strikes on Beirut that targeted Hezbollah command centers. The Israeli military says all missiles were intercepted, but the message was clear — the ceasefire that began in April is hanging by a thread.
Iranian officials, for their part, aren’t making it easy. Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, promised “a more crushing response and heavier costs” if Israel retaliates. It’s the kind of rhetoric designed to escalate, not de-escalate. But Trump isn’t taking the bait.
“We are very close to a final deal with Iran. It is going to be a good deal,” Trump said. “I don’t want it to blow up because of what is happening now.”
The president’s approach stands in stark contrast to the warmongers in Washington who seem to view every international crisis as an opportunity for American military intervention. Trump understands something fundamental that they have forgotten — peace is hard work, but war is easy to start and impossible to control once unleashed.
Is Trump’s gamble going to pay off? Only time will tell. But for Americans who believe in putting their country first and avoiding unnecessary foreign entanglements, watching a president who actually tries to stop wars instead of start them is a refreshing change of pace.
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