Bannon urges Trump to avoid war with Iran, backs 'America First' stance
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon was seen at the White House on Thursday, where he had lunch with US President Donald Trump, according to a senior official. The meeting had been scheduled weeks ago but was delayed after Bannon fell ill with the flu.
Despite a brief rift following his 2017 departure, Bannon has remained one of Trump's most loyal outside advisers.
Speaking at a Christian Science Monitor event, Bannon voiced strong opposition to US involvement in a conflict with Iran. 'My mantra right now: The Israelis have to finish what they started,' he said. 'We can't do this again. We'll tear the country apart. We can't have another Iraq.'
He has echoed this position on his 'War Room' podcast, reflecting a segment of the MAGA movement urging Trump to steer clear of war, arguing such a move contradicts his 'America First' foreign policy.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
Fear and shock as Israelis question motives behind attack on Iran
When a missile landed close to his home in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, on Thursday, Omri was miles away, sheltering at his partner's family house in northern Israel. "Our building is old and has no shelter so we drove to her parents' house, where there's a safe room, but it's frightening every time we leave the house," Omri told Middle East Eye. The city of Ramat Gan and other areas near Tel Aviv have been the site of multiple Iranian retaliatory attacks since Israel started its military campaign on Iran a week ago. On Thursday, Iran launched a barrage of 30 ballistic missiles at Israel, causing extensive damage in the country's centre and south, where a missile struck the Soroka hospital in Beersheba. In Ramat Gan, damage was reported at the Israeli stock exchange building and several nearby offices and residential buildings. More than 200 people were wounded that day, according to local media. "I'm in a condition that a lot of people can envy. I have a safe room, but I wouldn't want to be in this situation for much longer," Omri said New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "I don't think we can stand the current situation much longer." Another resident of Ramat Gan, whose home was struck by a missile, described the scene as similar to "an apocalypse." "I hadn't slept at all for several days, so I didn't wake up when the siren went off," the resident said, speaking to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. "Just before I reached the safe room, the missile struck, and I was hit in the shoulder by the force of the blast." Preserving Netanyahu's rule For many in Israel, the conflict with Iran feels unlike anything they've experienced before. Some are even questioning the motives behind the government's decision to strike Iran. Since last Friday, Israel has hit a long list of targets in Iran, including nuclear facilities, senior military commanders and scientists. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the offensive was aimed at "rolling back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival." As Trump weighs bombing Iran's Fordow, 'mission creep' lurks behind US attack Read More » Speaking of Netanyahu, Elisha, a resident of Tel Aviv, told MEE: "I think we have a supreme leader who's only interested in staying in power. The entire purpose of the attack is to preserve his rule." "The ministers will keep sitting safely in their bunkers while we're just pawns in their game. We're like sitting ducks," he added. Elisha described the daily Iranian missile strikes as "something different" from what Israelis are used to facing. "I'm not afraid for my own life, but for the people close to me," he told MEE. "A few days ago, a missile hit near my parents' house. The whole area was covered in shattered glass, their window was blown out. It's scary." "Life here is a nightmare," he continued. "I guess I'll move abroad. This isn't a place to raise children." When asked whether he feared the continuation of the war, Elisha replied: "I'm afraid of my government. I'm mostly afraid of what they'll do next." 'Very much in shock' In southern Israel, shock and fear gripped Soroka Hospital in Beersheba following the strike, which wounded 60 people. "There's no functioning ward now," a nurse told Israeli media outlet Ynet, referring to the extent of the damage. "When we arrived, there was chaos - people running, shouting. We went straight to the emergency room to see where help was needed. Now the entire hospital is being evacuated to protected areas. The building isn't safe," the nurse said. "We're all very much in shock." 'We have a supreme leader [Netanyahu] who's only interested in staying in power. The entire purpose of the attack is to preserve his rule' - Elisha, Tel Aviv In Holon, part of the Tel Aviv district, a resident said a powerful explosion shook their entire apartment building. "We went outside and saw that an entire four-storey house had been destroyed," the resident told Ynet. At the scene, a 13-year-old girl recalled the moment when the missile struck their home: "We jumped out of bed when the siren went off and ran to the shelter. "When we came out, we saw the house was destroyed. My room was hit the hardest. I just burst into tears." Echoing Elisha's concerns, Omri also shed doubts on the Israeli government's motives and the timing of the offensive on Iran. "There's something big going on here, but at the same time - why now?" he told MEE. "The government, the opposition, and the Knesset are steering us toward an uncertain future - and all this while captives remain in Gaza and soldiers continue to be killed."
Middle East Eye
3 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Bannon urges Trump to avoid war with Iran, backs 'America First' stance
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon was seen at the White House on Thursday, where he had lunch with US President Donald Trump, according to a senior official. The meeting had been scheduled weeks ago but was delayed after Bannon fell ill with the flu. Despite a brief rift following his 2017 departure, Bannon has remained one of Trump's most loyal outside advisers. Speaking at a Christian Science Monitor event, Bannon voiced strong opposition to US involvement in a conflict with Iran. 'My mantra right now: The Israelis have to finish what they started,' he said. 'We can't do this again. We'll tear the country apart. We can't have another Iraq.' He has echoed this position on his 'War Room' podcast, reflecting a segment of the MAGA movement urging Trump to steer clear of war, arguing such a move contradicts his 'America First' foreign policy.
Gulf Today
4 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Israel, Iran trade strikes as air war escalates with no end in sight
Israel bombed nuclear targets in Iran on Thursday and Iran fired missiles and drones at Israel after hitting an Israeli hospital overnight, as a week-old air war escalated with no sign yet of an exit strategy from either side. On Thursday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement it had launched combined missile and drone attacks at military and industrial sites linked to Israel's defence industry in Haifa and Tel Aviv. Israel reported missiles launched from Iran towards its territory. Following the strike that damaged the Soroka medical centre in Israel's southern city of Beersheba, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tehran's "tyrants" would pay the "full price." "Are we targeting the downfall of the regime? That may be a result, but it's up to the Iranian people to rise for their freedom," Netanyahu said. "Freedom requires these subjugated people to rise up, and it's up to them, but we may create conditions that will help them do it." Israeli emergency services stand next to charred vehicles at the site of an Iranian missile attack in Ramat Gan in central Israel near Tel Aviv, on Thursday. AFP Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military had been instructed to intensify strikes on strategic-related targets in Tehran in order to eliminate the threat to Israel and destabilise the "Ayatollah regime." Israel's sweeping campaign of airstrikes aims to do more than destroy Iran's nuclear centrifuges and missile capabilities. It seeks to shatter the foundations of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's government and leave it near collapse, Israeli, Western and regional officials said. Netanyahu wants Iran weakened enough to be forced into fundamental concessions on permanently abandoning its nuclear enrichment, its ballistic missile programme and its support for militant groups across the region, the sources said. An Israeli woman hugs her partner after she sailed back to Israel from Cyprus together with other Israelis, in Haifa port. Reuters US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has kept the world guessing, veering from proposing a swift diplomatic end to the war to suggesting the United States might join it. On Wednesday, he said nobody knew what he would do. A day earlier he mused on social media about killing Khamenei, then demanded Iran's unconditional surrender. Three diplomats told Reuters that Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi have spoken by phone several times since Israel began its strikes last week. A view of the Iranian nuclear facility at Arak in central Iran. AFP In an apparent reference to the US, Iran's Supreme National Security Council said on Thursday it would use a different strategy if a "third party" joined Israel in the war. STRAIT OF HORMUZ THREAT In the latest wave of attacks, Israel said it had struck Iran''s Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. It initially said it had also hit Bushehr, site of Iran's only functioning nuclear power plant, but a spokesperson later said it was a mistake to have said this. An Iranian diplomat told Reuters Bushehr was not hit and Israel was engaged in "psychological warfare" by discussing it. Any attack on the plant, near Arab neighbours and housing Russian technicians, is viewed as risking nuclear disaster. A week of Israeli air and missile strikes has wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command, damaged its nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of people. Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed at least two dozen civilians in Israel. Reuters
