The Daily Populous Wednesday May 20th, 2026 evening edition
Authored by inews.co.uk and submitted by theipaper

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Donald Trump may be having buyer’s remorse over the Iran war. US fuel prices are near an all-time high; his approval ratings are at an all-time low, and oil tankers remain stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to tip the global economy into recession. Trump is not good at taking responsibility. “The buck stops with everyone else” is his version of Harry Truman’s motto, “The buck stops here”, which Truman had on a sign on his desk in the Oval Office. For once, though, Trump has a point. He has every right to be angry with the man who sold him the war: Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The New York Times last month reconstructed the crucial meeting at which Trump accepted Netanyahu’s case for bombing. It took place at the long table in the White House Situation Room, both men flanked by their top advisers. “Netanyahu delivered his presentation in a confident monotone,” the Times reported. He told Trump that Iran’s ballistic missile programme could be destroyed in a few weeks, and the regime would be so weakened it could not choke off the vital Strait of Hormuz. Iran would be unable to land serious blows against US interests and allies in neighbouring countries. Netanyahu also said – and this may have been the clincher – that bombing would free Iran’s opposition groups to overthrow the regime.

Robert Gates, a grandee of America’s defence establishment as secretary of defence under Republican and Democratic presidents (George W Bush and Barack Obama), delivered a withering assessment this week of Netanyahu’s pitch. Interviewed by CBS, he said that Netanyahu had told him in July 2009 all the same things he had told Trump in the Situation Room in February.

Gates said he had pushed back during that “no-punches-pulled discussion” of Iran, telling Netanyahu he was underestimating the resilience of the Iranian regime. “He was saying in 2009, the regime is fragile, it’ll crumble at the first attack, and they won’t have time to do anything else … I told him then, he was dead wrong.”

Netanyahu has – almost comically – been warning that Iran is weeks or months away from getting a nuclear bomb for decades:

1992 (Knesset speech): “Within three to five years, we can assume that Iran will become autonomous in its ability to develop and produce a nuclear bomb.”

1995: (his book, Fighting Terrorism): Iran is “three to five years, at most” from a nuclear weapon.

Iran is “three to five years, at most” from a nuclear weapon. 1996 (to joint session of the US Congress): “the deadline for [Iran] attaining this goal is getting extremely close”.

“the deadline for [Iran] attaining this goal is getting extremely close”. 2002 (to a US congressional committee): Iran is “racing” for the bomb (but Saddam might get there first).

Iran is “racing” for the bomb (but Saddam might get there first). 2009: “Iran has the capability now to make one bomb”; they could “make several bombs in a year or two”.

“Iran has the capability now to make one bomb”; they could “make several bombs in a year or two”. 2010 (to The Atlantic): “You don’t want a Messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs… that’s what is happening in Iran.”

“You don’t want a Messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs… that’s what is happening in Iran.” 2012: Iran is “a few months away” from nuclear capability.

Iran is “a few months away” from nuclear capability. 2012 (to the UN General Assembly, the “cartoon bomb” speech): Iran will soon be “a few months, possibly a few weeks” from getting enough enriched uranium for their first bomb.

Iran will soon be “a few months, possibly a few weeks” from getting enough enriched uranium for their first bomb. 2015: Iran would be “weeks away from having enough enriched uranium for an entire arsenal of nuclear weapons” if Barrack Obama’s nuclear deal went through. (It did.)

Iran would be “weeks away from having enough enriched uranium for an entire arsenal of nuclear weapons” if Barrack Obama’s nuclear deal went through. (It did.) 2025: Iran could build a weapon “in a matter of months, or even weeks”.

Netanyahu persuaded Trump to bomb Iran the first time around almost a year ago, in June 2025. “Look, Donald,” he was quoted as saying, “this has to be tackled, because they’re racing forward … You can’t have a nuclear Iran on your watch.” In making these confident predictions, was Netanyahu simply passing on the assessments of his country’s intelligence services? Not necessarily. In 2011, on his final day as Mossad chief, Meir Dagan told a Knesset committee that “Iran will not have nuclear capability before 2015″. In 2012, a leaked intelligence assessment said that Mossad believed Iran was still “not performing the activity necessary to produce [nuclear] weapons”. This was while Netanyahu was claiming an Iranian bomb was, at most, months away.

Trump did not have to take Netanyahu’s word for this. His own intelligence services contradicted the alarming claims. Before last year’s bombing, the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, told a Senate committee that the US intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei has not authorised the nuclear weapons programme he suspended in 2003.”

At the time, Trump declared, “I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one”. This March, when Gabbard reported that Iran had not rebuilt enrichment since last year’s bombing, Trump said simply: “She’s wrong.” It is a mystery how Gabbard remains in her job.

In the account we have of the crucial Situation Room meeting, there were supporters of the attack on Iran among Trump’s inner circle. The “Secretary of War”, Pete Hegseth, was reportedly the most enthusiastic. Later, he was quoted as saying: “We’re going to have to take care of the Iranians eventually, so we might as well do it now.” Trump’s special envoy, and golf buddy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also pushed to join the Israeli attack.

Former US defence secretary Robert Gates, left, with Benjamin Netanyahu at the Pentagon during talks on Iran in 2009. Gates has said the Israeli leader made the same unfounded claims regarding Iran’s perceived vulnerabilities to him years ago (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty)

The CIA Director, John Ratcliffe, on the other hand, dismissed Netanyahu’s arguments as “farcical”; the Secretary of State and interim National Security Adviser, Marco Rubio, called them “bullshit”.

So, Trump had ample grounds to decide not to bomb Iran. The former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has been a regular visitor to the White House, despite being a critic of the war. He told Lulu Garcia-Navarro’s NYT podcast that on the eve of Operation Epic Fury Trump “didn’t seem enthusiastic at all. There was no effort to say, once we do this, the United States will be at peace, we’ll be safe, we will be more prosperous. There was none of that. Zero.” Netanyahu, he concluded, had a strange hold over Trump.

On one of Carlson’s visits, Trump told him, “It’s going to be OK.”

Carlson asked him: “How do you know?”

Trump replied: “Because it always is.” As with every other important decision in his life and his presidency, Trump is winging it.

Carlson said he warned Trump that a war with Iran would destroy his presidency. If it does, he has only himself to blame. On election night in 2024, he said critics had accused him of wanting to start a war. “I’m not going to start wars, I’m going to stop wars,” he said. But as Peter Bergen wrote in his book Trump and his Generals, Trump was constantly asking for “military options” to attack Iran during his first term. He came close several times back then.

So far, in less than 18 months of his second term, Trump has bombed not only Iran, but also Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria and Venezuela. He has threatened to attack Cuba, Panama, Greenland and even Canada. Though Netanyahu may have manipulated Trump, he was only feeding Trump’s deep desires. Whatever regrets he might have, Trump owns this war.

oritfx on May 20th, 2026 at 10:49 UTC »

The article is a bit weird, because, while it is clear that Netanyahu did get Trump to go to war with Iran, it's not like it's Netanyahu's fault here - and I am really, really not a fan of the man. Cynically speaking, if Israel can get rid of another enemy (after Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan) with the US hands, why wouldn't he?

What seems really, truly bizarre is that from the entire article two people stand out as adults in the room (who aren't military that is):

Rubio - the last adult in the room probably. I have a sneaking suspicion that he hates his job, but has to do it because of personal reasons. He seems competent, but not willing to stand up to Trump. whether it's to remain in control for the sake of the US and doing what little he can, or for his personal gain - that's yet to be answered.

Carlson (???) - ladies and gentlemen. Tucker Carlson is the voice of reason in the White House. That's the US right now. I really have no words.

fudgeplank on May 20th, 2026 at 08:40 UTC »

Trump doesn’t seem to be the sort of person to feel remorse or admit he’s ever done anything wrong. he just doubles and triples down on everything. And the kicker is a lot of Americans still support him

theipaper on May 20th, 2026 at 07:28 UTC »

Full article: Donald Trump may be having buyer’s remorse over the Iran war. US fuel prices are near an all-time high; his approval ratings are at an all-time low, and oil tankers remain stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to tip the global economy into recession. Trump is not good at taking responsibility. “The buck stops with everyone else” is his version of Harry Truman’s motto, “The buck stops here”, which Truman had on a sign on his desk in the Oval Office. For once, though, Trump has a point. He has every right to be angry with the man who sold him the war: Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The New York Times last month reconstructed the crucial meeting at which Trump accepted Netanyahu’s case for bombing. It took place at the long table in the White House Situation Room, both men flanked by their top advisers. “Netanyahu delivered his presentation in a confident monotone,” the Times reported. He told Trump that Iran’s ballistic missile programme could be destroyed in a few weeks, and the regime would be so weakened it could not choke off the vital Strait of Hormuz. Iran would be unable to land serious blows against US interests and allies in neighbouring countries. Netanyahu also said – and this may have been the clincher – that bombing would free Iran’s opposition groups to overthrow the regime.

Robert Gates, a grandee of America’s defence establishment as secretary of defence under Republican and Democratic presidents (George W Bush and Barack Obama), delivered a withering assessment this week of Netanyahu’s pitch. Interviewed by CBS, he said that Netanyahu had told him in July 2009 all the same things he had told Trump in the Situation Room in February.

Gates said he had pushed back during that “no-punches-pulled discussion” of Iran, telling Netanyahu he was underestimating the resilience of the Iranian regime. “He was saying in 2009, the regime is fragile, it’ll crumble at the first attack, and they won’t have time to do anything else … I told him then, he was dead wrong.”

Netanyahu has – almost comically – been warning that Iran is weeks or months away from getting a nuclear bomb for decades:

1992 (Knesset speech): “Within three to five years, we can assume that Iran will become autonomous in its ability to develop and produce a nuclear bomb.” 1995: (his book, Fighting Terrorism): Iran is “three to five years, at most” from a nuclear weapon. 1996 (to joint session of the US Congress): “the deadline for [Iran] attaining this goal is getting extremely close”. 2002 (to a US congressional committee): Iran is “racing” for the bomb (but Saddam might get there first). 2009: “Iran has the capability now to make one bomb”; they could “make several bombs in a year or two”. 2010 (to The Atlantic): “You don’t want a Messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs… that’s what is happening in Iran.” 2012: Iran is “a few months away” from nuclear capability. 2012 (to the UN General Assembly, the “cartoon bomb” speech): Iran will soon be “a few months, possibly a few weeks” from getting enough enriched uranium for their first bomb. 2015: Iran would be “weeks away from having enough enriched uranium for an entire arsenal of nuclear weapons” if Barrack Obama’s nuclear deal went through. (It did.) 2025: Iran could build a weapon “in a matter of months, or even weeks”.

Netanyahu persuaded Trump to bomb Iran the first time around almost a year ago, in June 2025. “Look, Donald,” he was quoted as saying, “this has to be tackled, because they’re racing forward … You can’t have a nuclear Iran on your watch.” In making these confident predictions, was Netanyahu simply passing on the assessments of his country’s intelligence services? Not necessarily. In 2011, on his final day as Mossad chief, Meir Dagan told a Knesset committee that “Iran will not have nuclear capability before 2015″. In 2012, a leaked intelligence assessment said that Mossad believed Iran was still “not performing the activity necessary to produce [nuclear] weapons”. This was while Netanyahu was claiming an Iranian bomb was, at most, months away.

Trump did not have to take Netanyahu’s word for this. His own intelligence services contradicted the alarming claims. Before last year’s bombing, the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, told a Senate committee that the US intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei has not authorised the nuclear weapons programme he suspended in 2003.”

At the time, Trump declared, “I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one”. This March, when Gabbard reported that Iran had not rebuilt enrichment since last year’s bombing, Trump said simply: “She’s wrong.” It is a mystery how Gabbard remains in her job.

In the account we have of the crucial Situation Room meeting, there were supporters of the attack on Iran among Trump’s inner circle. The “Secretary of War”, Pete Hegseth, was reportedly the most enthusiastic. Later, he was quoted as saying: “We’re going to have to take care of the Iranians eventually, so we might as well do it now.” Trump’s special envoy, and golf buddy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also pushed to join the Israeli attack.

The CIA Director, John Ratcliffe, on the other hand, dismissed Netanyahu’s arguments as “farcical”; the Secretary of State and interim National Security Adviser, Marco Rubio, called them “bullshit”.

So, Trump had ample grounds to decide not to bomb Iran. The former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has been a regular visitor to the White House, despite being a critic of the war. He told Lulu Garcia-Navarro’s NYT podcast that on the eve of Operation Epic Fury Trump “didn’t seem enthusiastic at all. There was no effort to say, once we do this, the United States will be at peace, we’ll be safe, we will be more prosperous. There was none of that. Zero.” Netanyahu, he concluded, had a strange hold over Trump.

On one of Carlson’s visits, Trump told him, “It’s going to be OK.”

Carlson asked him: “How do you know?”

Trump replied: “Because it always is.” As with every other important decision in his life and his presidency, Trump is winging it.

Carlson said he warned Trump that a war with Iran would destroy his presidency. If it does, he has only himself to blame. On election night in 2024, he said critics had accused him of wanting to start a war. “I’m not going to start wars, I’m going to stop wars,” he said. But as Peter Bergen wrote in his book Trump and his Generals, Trump was constantly asking for “military options” to attack Iran during his first term. He came close several times back then.

So far, in less than 18 months of his second term, Trump has bombed not only Iran, but also Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria and Venezuela. He has threatened to attack Cuba, Panama, Greenland and even Canada. Though Netanyahu may have manipulated Trump, he was only feeding Trump’s deep desires. Whatever regrets he might have, Trump owns this war.