{"id":153813,"date":"2025-06-18T11:38:56","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T11:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/amid-escalating-global-tensions-trump-struggles-to-be-a-peacemaker-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-06-18T11:38:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T11:38:56","slug":"amid-escalating-global-tensions-trump-struggles-to-be-a-peacemaker-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/amid-escalating-global-tensions-trump-struggles-to-be-a-peacemaker-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid escalating global tensions, Trump struggles to be a 'peacemaker' – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Morning Rundown: Why regime change in Iran is unlikely, NYC politician speaks out after ICE arrest, and Sabrina Carpenter flirts with controversy<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump is considering a range of options to resolve the worsening conflict in the Middle East, including a possible U.S. military strike against Iran, current and former administration officials said in a fresh sign of rising global tensions on his watch.
Trump cut short his appearance<\/a> at an international summit meeting in Canada to return to the White House at dawn Tuesday and focus on the shooting war that has broken out between Iran and Israel. In leaving the summit early, he dropped a planned meeting with Ukraine\u2019s leader about the grinding war with Russia, which Trump once pledged to end<\/a> on his first day in office.
The fast-moving events suggest that global crises are piling up in ways that are impinging other parts of Trump\u2019s agenda.
The stock market \u2014 a measure Trump has long viewed as a presidential report card<\/a> of sorts \u2014 fell Tuesday<\/a> amid the Middle East conflict.
The death toll continues to rise in Gaza as his efforts to mediate a peace deal between Israel and Hamas falter. Though Trump prides himself on a respectful rapport with Vladimir Putin, Russia launched a drone and missile attack<\/a> on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Tuesday that killed 15 people and targeted a residential apartment block.
Trump promised during the campaign that he’d be a “peacemaker.” Now he is sounding a more bellicose note as he contemplates just how far to go in helping Israel neutralize the threat from Iran.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump wrote Tuesday afternoon on Truth Social<\/a>. “He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.”
Trump met with senior officials in the White House Situation Room for about an hour and a half to discuss the war. Throughout the day, he posted <\/strong>further messages on his social media site, in which he aligned himself with Israel as it mounts an aerial attack aimed at wiping out Iran\u2019s nuclear program.
Israel\u2019s assault followed Trump\u2019s effort to reach a diplomatic solution in which Iran would forgo efforts to build a nuclear weapon.
\u201cWe now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran,\u201d he wrote on Truth Social<\/a>, choosing a pronoun that signifies his solidarity with Israel.
\u201cUnconditional surrender!\u201d he wrote<\/a> in capital letters, without specifying what that would mean, whether it’s regime change in Iran or a deal in which Iran relinquishes its nuclear program.
None of the options that Trump is weighing is easy. Only the United States possesses the large \u201cbunker buster\u201d bombs that can reach Iran\u2019s underground Fordow uranium enrichment site. If Trump were to withhold them from Israel and leave Fordow intact, Iran would still be positioned to build a nuclear arsenal, and he might appear weak. Trump has repeatedly insisted he won\u2019t allow Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel\u2019s prime minister, made a case for Trump to intervene militarily in an interview with ABC News<\/a>.
\u201cToday, it\u2019s Tel Aviv. Tomorrow, it\u2019s New York,\u201d Netanyahu said.
\u201cLook, I understand \u2018America First,\u2019\u201d he added, invoking Trump\u2019s foreign policy mantra. \u201cI don\u2019t understand \u2018America Dead.\u2019\u201d
If Trump joins in the push to wipe out the Iranian nuclear program, it could alienate parts of the MAGA movement that object to U.S. involvement in far-flung international disputes.
Trump campaigned for a second term promising to be a \u201cpeacemaker,\u201d blaming Joe Biden for presiding over a world that was \u201cin flames.\u201d
\u201cBlessed are the peacemakers,\u201d he said in February 2024 during the campaign. \u201cAnd I promise I will be your peacemaker in more ways than what you would think.\u201d
Similarly, at his inauguration, he said: “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That\u2019s what I want to be: a peacemaker and a unifier.”
Already, there are signs that Trump\u2019s electoral base is splintering<\/a>. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a staunch Trump ally, wrote on X<\/a> that \u201cforeign wars\/intervention\/regime change put America last, kill innocent people, are making us broke, and will ultimately lead to our destruction.”
The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Vice President JD Vance has stepped in to mend the rift. Long a skeptic of sending U.S. troops into overseas conflicts, Vance wrote on X<\/a> that Trump \u201cmay decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment.”
“That decision ultimately belongs to the president,” Vance added. “And of course, people are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy. But I believe the president has earned some trust on this issue.\u201d
A CNBC poll<\/a> of 1,000 U.S. adults in April found that 53% disapproved of Trump\u2019s foreign policy, compared with only 42% who approved.
Another Middle East option \u2014 potentially an off-ramp \u2014 is for Trump to leverage the Israeli offensive to persuade Iran to make concessions and abandon any uranium enrichment. Iran has steadfastly refused so far.
\u201cI do think he\u2019s genuinely confused about what his best option is,\u201d said John Bolton, a White House national security adviser in Trump\u2019s first term who is now a staunch critic. \u201cThis was not supposed to happen this way. There were supposed to be more negotiations\u201d over dismantling Iran\u2019s nuclear program.
\u201cTrump has lost direction and momentum and being in control of what\u2019s happening, and that rattles him, too,\u201d Bolton added.
Campaigning for a second term, Trump suggested that he had mastered the art of statecraft in ways that would keep the world safe. With his negotiating skills and his personal knowledge of the combatants in Ukraine and Russia, he said, he would end that war immediately. He also vowed that if voters re-elected him, \u201cyou\u2019re going to have peace in the Middle East.\u201d
What he has discovered is that both conflicts reflect historical grievance and raw political calculations that don\u2019t vanish when a new president takes power, foreign policy experts said. Presidents often learn that the hard way. Republican former President George W. Bush used the military to try to build a stable, free democracy in Iraq, with limited results<\/a>.
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of naivete on the part of the president as to what could or couldn\u2019t be done,\u201d said a former Trump administration national security official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. \u201cI think he put a lot of stock in his ability to negotiate, and it\u2019s a different world than it was the first time he was in office.\u201d
A second former Trump administration official said: “He has great abilities to negotiate, and he\u2019s proved that from his first term. But here he likely underestimated the internal politics of these conflicts for the different players involved.”
A pair of raging wars in different parts of the world would be tough for any president to manage. An added complication in Trump\u2019s case is that he presides over a turbulent national security team that he doesn\u2019t appear to entirely trust.
Asked about a previous statement by Tulsi Gabbard, his director of national intelligence, that Iran wasn\u2019t building a nuclear weapon, Trump told reporters Tuesday, \u201cI don\u2019t care what she said,\u201d adding that Iran was \u201cvery close\u201d to acquiring one.
Rather than rely on the nation\u2019s foreign policy apparatus, Trump has given some of the most sensitive diplomatic assignments to a friend, former real estate magnate Steve Witkoff.
\u201cHe\u2019s got one card that he\u2019s playing, and that\u2019s Witkoff. Witkoff does not have a background in this but has his [Trump’s] confidence,\u201d the second former official said. \u201cThe whole foreign policy structure has been gutted.\u201d
Trump has pared the National Security Council staff<\/a> and given Secretary of State Marco Rubio the dual role of also heading the National Security Council, which is supposed to coordinate the work of different agencies and make sure different perspectives are heard.
\u201cIs it a team, or is it a competing set of mutually hostile groups that don\u2019t trust one another?\u201d Daniel Fried, a former U.S. ambassador to Poland, asked rhetorically. \u201cThat is not a formula for success.\u201d
Peter Nicholas is a senior White House reporter for NBC News.
Peter Alexander is chief White House correspondent for NBC News.
Jonathan Allen is a senior national politics reporter for NBC News.
Dan De Luce\u00a0is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit.\u00a0
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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