Trump green lights attacks with Iran

After Israel pummelled Iran in an unprecedented attack and the Islamic Republic launched a barrage of missiles targeting Tel Aviv, US President Donald Trump has portrayed himself as above the fray. 

“I gave them 60 days and they didn’t meet it,” Trump told The New York Post on Friday. “Today’s 61, you know. Today’s day 61.”

Trump was referencing Israeli media reports from March 2025 that said he had sent Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei a letter laying out a two-month window to agree to a new nuclear deal, or face an attack. 

The US and Iran held their first round of nuclear talks on 12 April. 

For two months, Trump used the threat of Israeli strikes as a form of leverage against Iran, as his administration tried to impose an agreement on it that would strip it of all ability to enrich uranium. 

On Friday, Trump answered the question that had been gnawing at diplomats, analysts and even intelligence officials: whether the president of the United States would give the green light to an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear programme. 

“Israel struck for many reasons – fear Iran’s program might soon enter a zone of immunity; [a] risk ready Israeli prime minister for whom striking Iran was a lifelong mission. But the key was Trump’s willingness to green light the attacks – or at least not to say no,” Aaron David Miller, a former State Department Middle East negotiator, wrote on X. 

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