Some influential conservatives — possibly including media mogul Rupert Murdoch — have been pushing President Donald Trump behind the scenes to give the go-ahead for Israel to attack Iran.
Trump doesn't seem inclined to go along with their scheme, but the campaign has prompted the president's allies to push back in private and online to keep the administration's work on track to reach a nuclear deal with Tehran, reported Politico.
"During a private lunch with the president at the White House last Wednesday, conservative talk show host Mark Levin told Trump that Iran was days away from building a nuclear weapon, an argument Trump’s own intelligence team has told the president is not accurate, according to an intelligence official as well as another Trump ally familiar with the matter," the website reported.
"Levin urged Trump to allow the Israeli government to strike Iranian nuclear sites, which Trump has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would torpedo the diplomacy."
Levin has been attacking Steve Witkoff, the president's longtime friend and special envoy leading those talks, from his talk radio perch, and Murdoch's papers, particularly the New York Post, have been suggesting Witkoff works for Qatar, and a source told Politico the conservative media titan has been privately complaining about the envoy's diplomatic work.
“They’re trying to push the president to make a decision that’s not what he wants,” a senior administration official told Politico. “There’s clearly a lobby for war with Iran vs. those who are more aligned with the president, that know he is the one that has been able to bring them to the negotiating table.”
Someone was alarmed enough by the lobbying by Levin, who also hosts a Fox News program that Trump regularly promotes, to alert former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who then accused Levin of trying to push the U.S. into war.
“There is zero credible intelligence that suggests Iran is anywhere near building a bomb, or has plans to. None,” Carlson tweeted. “So why is Mark Levin once again hyperventilating about weapons of mass destruction? To distract you from the real goal, which is regime change — young Americans heading back to the Middle East to topple yet another government.”
Some allies believe Trump, who has campaigned on pulling the U.S. out of foreign entanglements, will resist the pressure, and some of them believe the efforts will even annoy him.
“Levin and Murdoch are all over Trump all the time — I actually think they hurt their case because I know Trump,” said one longtime Trump confidant. “Once he’s kind of made his mind up, you can come at it later from a different angle, but you keep pressing, he digs in.”
Trump sounded skeptical Monday about the possibility of reaching a deal with Iran on nuclear enrichment, saying Tehran was asking for more than he's willing to give, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Politico said he was "ultimately ... final decision maker."
“With respect to Iran, President Trump has made his own opinion clear: he would like to pursue diplomacy and make a deal, but IF Iran makes a deal impossible, President Trump has other options on the table,” Leavitt said.