Steve Bannon said that if President Donald Trump opts to support Israeli military action targeting Iran’s nuclear program, the core of the MAGA movement will largely rally behind him, according to The Hill. Speaking at an event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, Bannon emphasized Trump’s long-standing opposition to a nuclear-armed Iran. “If President Trump decides there’s not a diplomatic alternative … because he’s been consistent, no nuclear weapon,” he said.
Bannon expressed confidence that Trump’s communication skills would help bring supporters on board, even if they had initial misgivings. “If President Trump decides to do that, I know, and particularly his skills as a communicator, that he will come and walk people through it and the MAGA movement — look, they’ll be some — but the vast majority of the MAGA movement will say, ‘look, we trust your judgment, you walked us through this … maybe we hate it but you know, we’ll get on board.’”
He further explained that even the more non-interventionist voices within the GOP would ultimately back Trump if he laid out a compelling rationale. “If the president as commander-in-chief makes a decision to do this and comes forward and walks people through it, the MAGA movement — they’ll lose some — but the MAGA movement, the Marjorie Taylor Greenes, the Matt Gaetzes, we will fight it up to the end and make sure you get full information but if he has more intelligence and makes that case to the American people, the MAGA movement will support President Trump.”
Bannon also voiced strong approval for Israel’s military campaign against Iran and urged the Israeli Air Force to complete the mission they had undertaken, highlighting their dominance in the skies.
A day earlier, Trump posted on Truth Social demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender.” When questioned by a reporter at the White House about whether he would greenlight an American strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, he responded, “I may do it. I may not do it. Nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
The idea of potential U.S. involvement alongside Israel in operations targeting Iran’s nuclear capabilities has sparked backlash among the Republican Party’s non-interventionist faction, particularly from media figure Tucker Carlson.
In response, Vice President JD Vance came to Trump’s defense in a lengthy thread on X, addressing some of the criticism from isolationist voices. “Look, I’m seeing this from the inside, and am admittedly biased towards our president (and my friend), but there’s a lot of crazy stuff on social media, so I wanted to address some things directly on the Iran issue: First, POTUS has been amazingly consistent, over 10 years, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Over the last few months, he encouraged his foreign policy team to reach a deal with the Iranians to accomplish this goal. The president has made clear that Iran cannot have uranium enrichment. And he said repeatedly that this would happen one of two ways–the easy way or the ‘other’ way,” Vance wrote.
He then sought to clarify a commonly misunderstood distinction in the nuclear debate. “Second, I’ve seen a lot of confusion over the issue of ‘civilian nuclear power’ and ‘uranium enrichment.’ These are distinct issues. Iran could have civilian nuclear power without enrichment, but Iran rejected that. Meanwhile, they’ve enriched uranium far above the level necessary for any civilian purpose. They’ve been found in violation of their non-proliferation obligations by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is hardly a rightwing organization.”
Vance continued, underscoring the gravity of Iran’s enrichment efforts. “It’s one thing to want civilian nuclear energy. It’s another thing to demand sophisticated enrichment capacity. And it’s still another to cling to enrichment while simultaneously violating basic non-proliferation obligations and enriching right to the point of weapons-grade uranium.”
He challenged critics of Trump’s position by pointing to the lack of solid arguments in Iran’s defense. “I have yet to see a single good argument for why Iran needed to enrich uranium well above the threshold for civilian use. I’ve yet to see a single good argument for why Iran was justified in violating its non-proliferation obligations. I’ve yet to see a single good pushback against the IAEA’s findings.”
Vance wrapped up by praising Trump’s handling of military matters and asserting that any decision he makes would be grounded in national interest. “Meanwhile, the president has shown remarkable restraint in keeping our military’s focus on protecting our troops and protecting our citizens. He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. That decision ultimately belongs to the president. 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. And having seen this up close and personal, I can assure you that he is only interested in using the American military to accomplish the American people’s goals. Whatever he does, that is his focus,” Vance stated.
{Matzav.com}
