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The Memo: Trump pumps brakes, lightly, on joining Israel's assault on Iran

9 25
21.06.2025

President Trump is pumping the brakes, at least for the moment, on direct U.S. engagement in Israel’s assault on Iran.

On Thursday, Trump determined that he would make a “decision on whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” according to a statement read by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Trump had also determined there was “a chance for substantial negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future,” Leavitt said.

But that pause could be unpaused at any moment, given Trump’s mercurial nature, the volatility of the situation in the Middle East and the voices within American politics arguing that the time is ripe for the U.S. to deliver a decisive blow on Israel’s behalf.

Trump on Friday said the two-week period was the “maximum” period that would elapse before he decided on the question.

That left the overall positive muddy — but it also gave Trump some room to maneuver.

And even his current equivocal stance shows him edging back toward his more anti-interventionist “America First” instincts.

That is a turn from earlier in the week, when Trump had seemed right on the brink of sending American forces in some capacity to back Israel’s assault.

At that point, he had bragged on social media that “we” had control of the skies over Iran and, in a separate all-caps post, appeared to demand Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”

Trump’s fuzzy position since........

© The Hill