When President Donald Trump celebrated Israel’s strike against Iran on social media Friday, it became the latest example of how lawmakers from the two parties can have wildly different interpretations of the president’s same words.
On Friday morning, hours after Israel struck Iran, Trump suggested in a social media post that the strike was a function of Iran failing to make a deal with the United States during recent nuclear talks.
“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done,” he wrote on his social media app Truth Social. “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire.”
For Republicans, Trump’s post was a rational and nuanced assessment of the escalating tensions in the Middle East that presented Trump as the mediator-in-chief. For Democrats, it was mostly a poor attempt to justify an Israeli strike as diplomacy just days before scheduled talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was not involved in Israel’s strikes and warned that “Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel.”
But Trump’s comments seemed to call that claim into question. And while most lawmakers from both parties lauded Trump for keeping U.S. troops out of Israel’s attack on Israel, some criticized the president’s framing of the conflict as a consequence of Iran shirking a deal with the U.S, fearing the rhetoric could ratchet up already high tensions in the Middle East.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari, the only Iranian Democrat in the House, said Trump was exploiting the moment.
“Donald Trump is a failed negotiator who has completely lost control and credibility in every region in which he claims to be a peacemaker,” she said in a statement. “Trump cannot and must not exploit this moment to justify authoritarianism and continue his reckless power grab.”
Senate Foreign Relations Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy blasted Trump’s language, saying in a post on X that “Trump is scrambling to spin this.”
Murphy continued that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “wasn’t trying to help diplomacy; he was trying to destroy diplomacy.”
“How do we know? They reportedly targeted and killed Iran’s chief negotiator with Trump,” Murphy said.
Israel’s attack did kill some of Iran’s most powerful leaders, including the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces.
Although some Democrats took a softer tone toward Trump — Armed Services Committee member Sen. Tim Kaine commended his administration for “prioritizing diplomacy” — many were critical of Israel’s aggression, particularly when nuclear talks were scheduled between the U.S. and Iran in Oman on Sunday. (Iran has since pulled out of that conversation, which would have been the sixth round of talks with Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.)
“I cannot understand why Israel would launch a preemptive strike at this juncture, knowing high-level diplomatic discussions between the United States and Iran are scheduled for this weekend,” Kaine said. “These talks are the only viable and sustainable path to curtailing Iran’s development of nuclear weapons and protecting U.S. national security interests in the region.”
Rep. Jared Moskowitz — a vocal Democratic supporter of Israel — was even more aligned with the Trump administration, agreeing with the president’s rationale that Iran could have prevented the Israeli strike by dealing with the U.S.
“As the administration tried to pursue negotiations with Iran, Iran refused to give up its nuclear program,” Moskowitz said.
“Iran could have prevented this,” he added. “They chose this path. Democratic and Republican administrations have all agreed that Iran should never obtain a nuclear weapon, and this will help that bipartisan goal.”
But as much as Democrats were looking at the strike and Trump’s reaction through a critical lens, Republicans were eager to vocally support Trump and Netanyahu — without caveats.
“I commend President Trump for his consistent support for Israel and opposition to Iran’s nuclear program,” defense hawk Sen. Tom Cotton posted on X. “He gave Iran ‘chance after chance’ for a peaceful deal, as he said this morning and Iran refused. He’s now willing to give them another chance.”
Responding directly to Trump’s Truth Social post, Sen. Lindsey Graham said on X he very much appreciated “President Trump’s strong statement in support of this Israeli operation and his urging for the Iranian Regime to make a deal to abandon their nuclear enrichment program to avoid further bloodshed.”
“I hope and pray the ayatollah and his henchmen who are still alive will heed President Trump’s counsel,” Graham wrote. “If not, America — the greatest power for good on Earth — should be all-in to help Israel finish the job.”
Rep. Don Bacon, a more moderate member of the House Armed Services Committee, also told NOTUS he agreed with Trump’s position.
“I support Israel’s right to defend itself with Iran,” Bacon told NOTUS. “The leadership of Iran has pledged Israel’s destruction and is nearing nuclear weapons capability. I think President Trump agreed with this.”
Since the attack, Trump has said he gave Iran 60 days to strike a nuclear deal with the U.S. The day of Israel’s attack on Iran, Trump told CNN, was day 61.
That was all some Republicans needed to hear to support Israel’s attack.
“After Iran ignored President Trump’s 60-day ultimatum to cease their nuclear program and negotiate, on day 61 our ally Israel responded by carrying out a covert operation targeting Iranian military infrastructure and senior military officials,” Rep. Daniel Webster wrote in a statement.
“America’s steadfast support of our allies — especially Israel — is indispensable to countering the constant threats from Iran and its terrorist proxies,” Webster said.
Some were even more emphatic.
“AMERICA AND THE FREE WORLD OWES ISRAEL A DEBT OF GRATITUDE FOR HAVING THE COURAGE AND FORTITUDE TO CONFRONT AND DESTROY IRAN AS AN AXIS OF EVIL,” Rep. Ralph Norman texted NOTUS. “UNDER THE STRONG LEADERSHIP OF BENJAMIN NETANYAHU AND PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP ‘PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH’ IS ALIVE AND WELL!”
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Riley Rogerson, Daniella Diaz and Reese Gorman are reporters at NOTUS. John T. Seward is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.