{"id":15564,"date":"2026-04-10T08:48:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/?p=15564"},"modified":"2026-04-10T08:48:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:48:04","slug":"the-us-is-responsible-for-its-decision-to-attack-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2026\/04\/10\/the-us-is-responsible-for-its-decision-to-attack-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"The US is Responsible for its Decision to Attack Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>There is a growing tendency in American politics to attribute Trump&#8217;s decision to go to war with Iran to his being misled by Netanyahu. While this may explain his choice, it obscures the structures that enable one person to destabilize global security with minimal domestic or international support. Moreover, narratives emphasizing external influence on Trump misrepresent the U.S.-Israel power balance and exaggerate the influence of pro-Israel organizations on American policy. This allows U.S. leaders to deflect blame for an unpopular war abroad rather than confront the reality that America&#8217;s massive military\u2014controlled largely by the presidency and a hawkish foreign policy establishment with limited democratic oversight\u2014created the structural conditions for this conflict.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the six weeks since the American and Israeli military campaign against Iran began, numerous actors have suggested that Israel drew the United States into the conflict. These voices span the political spectrum\u2014from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/netanyahus-war\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bernie Sanders<\/a>, America&#8217;s most prominent progressive politician, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediamatters.org\/nick-fuentes\/nick-fuentes-says-trumps-spin-war-iran-childish-and-grating\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nick Fuentes<\/a>, America&#8217;s most prominent neo-Nazi, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/israels-critics-erupt-after-rubio-suggests-it-dragged-us-into-war-with-iran\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marco Rubio<\/a>, the current Secretary of State. Contributing to the narrative, a leading counter-terrorism official <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-iran-war-kent-resignation-e2e17a76d79617a68370f076c0291208\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">resigned<\/a> and blamed \u201cIsrael and its powerful American lobby\u201d for the war, while an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/tim-sheehy-iran-war-protester-senate-b2932413.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ex-Marine<\/a> was forcibly removed from a congressional hearing after shouting, \u201cNo one wants to fight for Israel.\u201d The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/20\/world\/europe\/iran-us-israel-goals.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New York Times<\/a>, along with most major news <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2026\/03\/20\/us-israel-iran-goals-trump-netanyahu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sources<\/a>, continues to report that U.S. and Israeli war aims are diverging.<\/p>\n<p>However, focusing on Netanyahu&#8217;s alleged manipulation of Trump, or on the lobbying efforts of pro-Israel groups, overlooks the fact that US-Iranian tensions span <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/us-and-iran-a-brief-history-of-how-decades-of-mistrust-and-bad-blood-led-to-open-warfare-279712\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">decades<\/a> and that attempts at reconciliation have failed due to a lack of bipartisan support. Relations between the US and Iran soured after the 1979 revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis. Further deterioration gave rise to numerous crises and sources of mutual recrimination: the Iran-Contra affair, American attacks on Iranian ships and civilian aircraft, Iranian support for groups opposed to the United States and Israel in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and Yemen, and mutual accusations of malevolence. The last serious attempt to reduce tensions\u2014the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action\u2014failed when Trump, backed by a large faction of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/politics\/congressional-leaders-split-on-trump-withdrawal-from-iran-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Republican Party<\/a>, withdrew the United States from the deal, and the Biden administration chose not to re-enter or renegotiate the agreement.<\/p>\n<p>Above all, the focus on whether Trump\u2019s decision to go to war was influenced by Netanyahu feeding him misleading information seriously misrepresents the power dynamics at play. Israel depends heavily on the United States to maintain its military and diplomatic position. If the Trump administration had accepted Iranian concessions and made a deal, or made clear to Israel that it would neither take part in, nor offer military or diplomatic support for, any war with Iran, then the Israelis would not have been in a position to launch this war. Instead of using this leverage to pressure Israel not to attack Iran, the United States moved a massive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/25\/us-military-moves-navy-air-force-assets-to-the-middle-east-what-to-know\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">military force<\/a> into the region. Furthermore, America has a large <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/03\/18\/tulsi-gabbard-iran-nuclear-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">intelligence community<\/a> and many <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2026\/03\/06\/iran-war-security-risks-ir-expert-poll-disapproval\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">regional experts<\/a> who told Trump that the Israeli leader was misrepresenting the likely outcomes of attacking Iran. The American leadership chose not to listen\u2014just like they made an affirmative choice to launch this war.<\/p>\n<h2>Israeli Lobbying &#8211; Not Powerful in the Way Many Think<\/h2>\n<p>Those highlighting Israeli actions pushing the Americans to invade Iran often point to the strength of the Israel lobby in the United States. This overstates what professional lobbyists and political action committees alone can achieve without public support in an American political system filled with many competing and wealthy interest groups. For comparison, Qatar spends substantial sums lobbying the U.S. Congress and even bought a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/05\/21\/nx-s1-5406420\/trump-accepts-qatar-plane-air-force-one\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">plane<\/a> \u00a0for Trump\u2019s use. In return, it receives some military protection and arms sales. However, this effort does not give Qatar significant control over American foreign policy, as evidenced by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/world\/middle-east\/article\/saudi-arabia-lifts-three-year-gulf-blockade-of-qatar-gc2vszfwt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Saudi blockade<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/blogs\/menasource\/how-israels-strike-on-doha-is-forcing-a-gulf-security-reckoning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Israeli bombing<\/a> of the country.<\/p>\n<p>What differentiates the American domestic politics surrounding Israel from those surrounding Qatar is the existence of pro-Israel social constituencies in America. Unlike the paid <a href=\"https:\/\/quincyinst.org\/research\/soft-power-hard-influence-how-qatar-became-a-giant-in-washington\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lobbyists and think tanks<\/a> lobbying for Qatar, pro-Israel organizations in America can draw upon support from both grassroots activists and wealthy donors to fund and sustain themselves. Because its key base of support are found among various constituencies inside the US, the political action committees and the broader network of civil society organizations advocating for American support to Israel\u2014what Mearsheimer and Walt called the \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.de\/books\/about\/The_Israel_Lobby_and_U_S_Foreign_Policy.html?id=bQHXJ4JzxV4C&amp;redir_esc=y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Israel lobby\u2019<\/a>\u2014is better thought of as American lobbying and organizing for Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Support for Israel in American politics, civil society, and the public is not primarily a Jewish-American phenomenon. Until the 2023 Israel-Hamas war, the majority of American supporters of both major political parties had <a href=\"https:\/\/globalaffairs.org\/research\/public-opinion-survey\/americans-grow-more-divided-us-support-israel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">favorable<\/a> opinions of Israel and support in <a href=\"https:\/\/besacenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/MSPS121web24.7.24.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Congress<\/a> was very strong. Furthermore, some of America\u2019s largest pro-Israel organizations are Christian Zionist groups, the largest of which now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northcountrypublicradio.org\/news\/npr\/1197956512\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">outnumber<\/a> the total number of American Jews (many of whom do not identify as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jta.org\/2026\/02\/05\/united-states\/jews-who-support-israel-often-do-not-identify-as-zionists-new-jfna-survey-finds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zionists<\/a>). Even those organizations aiming to channel American Jewish support for Israel\u2014such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)\u2014or civil society organizations that support Israel\u2014such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)\u2014increasingly reflect the position of a <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.timesofisrael.com\/review-jewish-giving-philanthropy-and-the-shaping-of-american-jewish-life\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">small number of wealthy donors<\/a> (some Jewish, some not) rather than broader sentiment among America\u2019s diverse Jewish community. This is important to reiterate, because it makes clear that American Jews are not collectively responsible for American support for Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, pro-Israel organizations are part of an entire ecosystem of organizations and political groups advocating for more American military action abroad. In fact, many of Israel\u2019s strongest supporters\u2014such as Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/house\/4254384-brian-mast-israeli-military-uniform-capitol-hill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Brian Mast<\/a>, who famously wore an Israeli military uniform in Congress\u2014are also hawkish on issues such as <a href=\"https:\/\/mast.house.gov\/2024\/1\/putting-checks-on-communist-china\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">China<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreign.senate.gov\/press\/rep\/release\/risch-mast-statement-on-events-in-venezuela\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Venezuela<\/a>. The fact that foreign policy hawks appear to set the Trump administration\u2019s agenda on certain issues is a symptom of both erratic decision-making within the Trump administration and of how detached American foreign policy decision making has become from public participation and opinion.<\/p>\n<h2>Blaming Netanyahu to Blame Trump<\/h2>\n<p>For Trump and those aligned with him, leaking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/03\/18\/israel-us-iran-war-objectives-trump-netanyahu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stories<\/a> to the press and hinting at how Israel misled them into the conflict is an easy way to offload their own responsibility for the war. Almost all of the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-war-senate-vote-war-powers-06f9465c16218f90192f7502baa736eb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Republican leadership<\/a> either support the war or refuse to oppose it. Now that it\u2019s here, not going well, and is increasingly unpopular, they need someone to blame. Furthermore, for Democrats and Republicans alike, focusing on Israeli actions in causing the war allows them to criticize an unpopular war without implicating anyone in the American state or having to articulate what they would have done differently.<\/p>\n<p>Focusing on purported Israeli influence also carries a significant disadvantage: it reduces the war&#8217;s causes to Donald Trump&#8217;s personal failings. Indeed, for many American liberals, this appears to be precisely the point. Emphasizing Netanyahu\u2019s influence over Trump highlights the <a href=\"https:\/\/carnegieendowment.org\/emissary\/2026\/03\/trump-netanyahu-iran-war-responsibility\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">erratic nature of Trump\u2019s foreign<\/a> policy and his susceptibility to manipulation, while deflecting attention from their own responsibility for America\u2019s militaristic agenda and the political challenge of formulating a clear alternative. Put simply, \u2018we allowed the military industrial complex and national security state to get out of control\u2019 seems more politically risky than \u2018Netanyahu tricked Trump\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>This also shields other members of the Trump administration and the military leadership, as well as parts of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediamatters.org\/fox-news\/right-wing-media-figures-castigate-fox-news-pushing-blatant-propaganda-war-iran\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/03\/19\/trump-iran-war-set-to-boost-profits-for-these-defense-contractors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">business<\/a> from responsibility. The unfortunate reality is that a domestic political system exists that appears wholly unable or unwilling to subject foreign policy to the scrutiny of popular opinion or the constraints of public will. It rests atop a military-industrial complex that channels significant resources to key political constituencies domestically, using a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pogo.org\/analyses\/representatives-are-too-invested-in-defense-contractors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">large lobbying effort<\/a> in Congress, influence over significant numbers of jobs in every state, and the powerful narratives of American nationalism to obtain approval for enormous amounts of military spending. Crucially, over recent decades, this apparatus has grown increasingly detached from the public and centralized around the presidency. The fact that Trump seems to believe claims that are contested or demonstrably false\u2014despite clear information from within and outside the national security establishment that a war with Iran would unfold exactly as it has\u2014is a sign of profound dysfunction within the U.S. polity.<\/p>\n<p>A more accurate and productive narrative would hold that U.S. foreign policy is becoming increasingly detached from democratic participation and <a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1057\/s41311-021-00326-z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">concentrated<\/a> in the executive branch and in the <a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/psq.12830\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">person<\/a> of the president , and that building a global security architecture around such an arrangement is inherently unstable. While this change has been a trend throughout the twentieth century, it now seems to be intensifying. The initial 2003 invasion of Iraq, while equally ill-conceived, began <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/politics\/2023\/03\/14\/a-look-back-at-how-fear-and-false-beliefs-bolstered-u-s-public-support-for-war-in-iraq\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">with broad support<\/a> among the public and within Congress. Today, with Congress being unable to muster political will to exert any meaningful control over foreign policy , presidential support alone is sufficient to kidnap the Venezuelan president, threaten to invade Greenland, bomb Somalia, and launch war on Iran in several months. If Americans are angered that a war has been launched which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/politics\/majority-of-americans-oppose-military-action-in-iran-new-poll-finds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">most<\/a> of them opposed, they should examine how their own institutions made such an outcome possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is a growing tendency in American politics to attribute Trump&#8217;s decision to go to war with Iran to his being misled by Netanyahu. While this may explain his choice, it obscures the structures that enable one person to destabilize global security with minimal domestic or international support. Moreover, narratives emphasizing external influence on Trump misrepresent the U.S.-Israel power balance and exaggerate the influence of pro-Israel organizations on American policy. This allows U.S. leaders to deflect blame for an unpopular war abroad rather than confront the reality that America&#8217;s massive military\u2014controlled largely by the presidency and a hawkish foreign policy establishment with limited democratic oversight\u2014created the structural conditions for this conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":402,"featured_media":15561,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1125],"tags":[1308,1245,1236,1143],"coauthors":[1425],"class_list":["post-15564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-en","tag-iran-en","tag-israel-en","tag-trump-en","tag-usa-en"],"acf":[],"views":17,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The US is Responsible for its Decision to Attack Iran - PRIF BLOG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2026\/04\/10\/the-us-is-responsible-for-its-decision-to-attack-iran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The US is Responsible for its Decision to Attack Iran - PRIF BLOG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is a growing tendency in American politics to attribute Trump&#039;s decision to go to war with Iran to his being misled by Netanyahu. While this may explain his choice, it obscures the structures that enable one person to destabilize global security with minimal domestic or international support. Moreover, narratives emphasizing external influence on Trump misrepresent the U.S.-Israel power balance and exaggerate the influence of pro-Israel organizations on American policy. This allows U.S. leaders to deflect blame for an unpopular war abroad rather than confront the reality that America&#039;s massive military\u2014controlled largely by the presidency and a hawkish foreign policy establishment with limited democratic oversight\u2014created the structural conditions for this conflict.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2026\/04\/10\/the-us-is-responsible-for-its-decision-to-attack-iran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PRIF BLOG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HSFK.PRIF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-10T06:48:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-10T06:48:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Trump-and-Netanyahu-1024x560.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sidney Michelini\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@HSFK_PRIF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@HSFK_PRIF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sidney Michelini\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2026\/04\/10\/the-us-is-responsible-for-its-decision-to-attack-iran\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2026\/04\/10\/the-us-is-responsible-for-its-decision-to-attack-iran\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sidney Michelini\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/8197e362045632cfe0dc6de051a2ea19\"},\"headline\":\"The US is Responsible for its Decision to Attack Iran\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-10T06:48:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-10T06:48:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2026\/04\/10\/the-us-is-responsible-for-its-decision-to-attack-iran\/\"},\"wordCount\":1544,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2026\/04\/10\/the-us-is-responsible-for-its-decision-to-attack-iran\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Trump-and-Netanyahu.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Iran\",\"Israel\",\"Trump\",\"USA\"],\"articleSection\":[\"English\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2026\/04\/10\/the-us-is-responsible-for-its-decision-to-attack-iran\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2026\/04\/10\/the-us-is-responsible-for-its-decision-to-attack-iran\/\",\"name\":\"The US is Responsible for its Decision to Attack Iran - 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While this may explain his choice, it obscures the structures that enable one person to destabilize global security with minimal domestic or international support. Moreover, narratives emphasizing external influence on Trump misrepresent the U.S.-Israel power balance and exaggerate the influence of pro-Israel organizations on American policy. 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