The US president campaigned against starting new wars, promoting himself as a “peace” candidate.
In the early months of his second presidency, Trump opened negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme, and repeatedly stressed that he wants a deal with Tehran.
But days before US and Iranian officials were set to meet for another round of talks in June, Israeli jets struck in Tehran, igniting what would become known as the 12-day war and risking an all-out regional conflict.
Trump is now claiming full credit for the Israeli attack.
“Israel attacked first. That attack was very, very powerful. I was very much in charge of that,” the US president told reporters earlier.
But in the early hours of the war, the US position was drastically different. Washington stressed that Israel acted on its own and warned Tehran against retaliating against US troops and interests in the region.
“Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran, and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at that time.
