President Donald J. Trump speaks to reporters upon arriving at the White House from Bedminster, New Jersey, in Washington, D.C., on April 27, 2025. (Andrew Thomas / Middle East Images / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Photos)
(JTA) — President Donald Trump said he would not let the United States be “dragged in” to war with Iran by Israel — because he would join in an Israeli offensive willingly if Iran does not accede to his demands limitings its nuclear ambitions.
He also said there was “tremendous antisemitism going on in this country,” said he expected that Saudi Arabia would soon normalize ties with Israel and suggested that Joe Biden was more to blame than Hamas for the resumption of the war in Gaza last month.
The comments came in an extensive interview with Time Magazine on the occasion of Trump’s 100th day in office. Asked about reports that he had blocked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from attacking Iran, which has vowed to destroy Israel, Trump demurred.
“I didn’t make it comfortable for them, but I didn’t say no,” Trump said. “Ultimately I was going to leave that choice to them, but I said I would much prefer a deal than bombs being dropped.”
When the interviewers — Eric Cortellessa, Time’s senior political correspondent, and the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Sam Jacobs — then asked, “Are you worried Netanyahu will drag you into a war?” Trump said no.
“You asked if he’d drag me in, like I’d go in unwillingly,” he said. “No, I may go in very willingly if we can’t get a deal. If we don’t make a deal, I’ll be leading the pack.”
The comments do not substantially change what Trump said when he first announced that he was opening negotiations with Iran, a move seen as counter to Netanyahu’s preferences. But they offer the clearest indication yet that a U.S.-Israeli war against Iran could be in the near term.
The interview took place April 22 and was released on Friday. Over the weekend, Israel bombed sites in Beirut that it said were weapons depots of Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful proxy. A major explosion, killing dozens of people, also rocked a port in Iran where CNN had previously reported that shipments of chemicals used in Iran’s missile program had arrived.
The interview covered a range of topics, including the war in Ukraine, Trump’s tariffs program, his attitude toward the Supreme Court and his efforts to deport immigrants and students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests. Trump told the interviewers that he was unfamiliar with the case of Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts University graduate student arrested after co-authoring a student newspaper op-ed that was critical of Israel. But he said he was unconcerned that his crackdown on student protesters was at odds with his promises around free speech.
“You emphasized free speech as a cornerstone of your campaign, you castigated efforts to suppress it,” Trump was asked. “But now it looks like your administration is deporting hundreds of people for engaging in speech you don’t like. Why?”
His answer reflected the allegation that his administration has cited to justify a wide range of initiatives including the arrests and sweeping funding cuts targeted to elite universities: that pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses were rife with anti-Jewish sentiment.
“Tremendous anti-semitism at every one of those rallies,” he said. “Tremendous, and I agree with free speech, but not riots all over every college in America. Tremendous anti-semitism going on in this country.”
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