US president; armed Israel, launched the Iran war, sanctioned the ICC
President of the United States · Person · in office since Jan 20, 2025
Donald Trump returned to the presidency in January 2025, approved billions of dollars in bombs, guidance kits and fuzes for Israel within weeks, and on 27 February 2026 authorized the US–Israeli war on Iran. In February 2025, after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, he signed Executive Order 14203 sanctioning ICC personnel with asset freezes and travel bans, punishing the court rather than the accused. His market-moving announcements have repeatedly coincided with unusually well-timed trades. In April 2025 he posted 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!' hours before pausing tariffs, triggering a 9.5% S&P 500 rally; Reuters found bullish options trades placed minutes beforehand that could have generated tens of millions in gains. ProPublica later identified more than a dozen administration officials and aides making well-timed trades around tariff announcements. In March 2026 the FT found $580M in oil futures trades placed shortly before Trump announced purported Iran talks. These episodes prompted calls for investigations, but no public evidence has established that Trump personally tipped traders or directed illegal trades.
A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will
— Donald Trump, Truth Social post, April 7, 2026 (ahead of his deadline to Iran)
On April 7, 2026, hours before his deadline to Iran, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social: "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will," according to ABC News and CBS News. ABC News reported that a day earlier he said the entire country "could be taken out in one night", and that he had told ABC on the Sunday: "we're blowing up the entire country." On Easter Sunday he announced "Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day" for Iran, cursing at its people to "Open the Fuckin' Strait", as the Lowy Institute recorded. A two-week ceasefire was reached before the deadline, according to CBS News and NBC News.
The threats came after the US-Israeli strike campaign that began on February 28, 2026. When a strike destroyed a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iranian media reported 175 dead, "many of them children", per PolitiFact. Trump first blamed Iran, telling reporters it was "done by Iran" because Iranian munitions were "very inaccurate", Al Jazeera reported. Two days later he claimed "Iran also has some Tomahawks", the missile experts linked to the strike. PolitiFact rated it False: no combatant but the US is known to hold Tomahawks, and the White House offered no evidence.
Standing beside Benjamin Netanyahu, a man wanted by the International Criminal Court, Trump announced on February 4, 2025: "The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We'll own it." He promised "the Riviera of the Middle East" and said Gaza's people should "go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts", Al Jazeera reported. That is a plan for ethnic cleansing, delivered as a sales pitch.
Three weeks later, on February 26, 2025, he posted an AI-generated video to Truth Social and Instagram showing a golden statue of himself on a Gaza street and himself lounging shirtless with Netanyahu, to a soundtrack of "Trump Gaza is finally here" and "Trump Gaza number one", Global News reported. Before taking office he had already promised "ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East" (Truth Social, December 2, 2024, per The Times of Israel).
South Lebanon received even less regard. On April 8, 2026, as Lebanese health authorities counted at least 254 people killed in a single day of Israeli strikes, Trump called it a "separate skirmish" and told PBS: "Because of Hezbollah, they were not included in the deal," Al Jazeera reported.
Sources: aljazeera.com, globalnews.ca, timesofisrael.com, aljazeera.com
The case for the war on Iran rested on claims the fact-checkers took apart. FactCheck.org found no evidence for Trump's assertion that Iran "attempted to rebuild" its nuclear program, quoting arms control expert Daryl Kimball, and called his line that Iran would "soon" have missiles reaching the US misleading; the Defense Intelligence Agency projection cited put that at 2035. After his April 2026 prime-time address, FactCheck.org again noted that the sites he said were "totally obliterated" in 2025 were damaged but not destroyed. In June 2025 he had attacked CNN and The New York Times for reporting exactly that.
PolitiFact rated False his October 2026 claim that he had always meant "4-6 weeks" only for the nuclear threat, finding he "did not distinguish" that from the length of the war. His August 2026 boasts that the US was "doing extremely well" were weighed against a cost of "at least $37.5 billion" and 18 dead US service members.
On Gaza aid, his July 27, 2025 claim "We gave $60 million two weeks ago" for food drew a Half True: PolitiFact found a "$30 million grant in late June" that "as of July 26" had not been distributed.
Miriam Adelson gave $100 million to Preserve America, the super PAC backing Trump in 2024, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported, a sum that "dwarfed the $75 million" from Elon Musk. JTA recorded that a confidant said she opposes a Palestinian state, while her spokesperson denied she had made Trump's backing of West Bank annexation a condition of her support.
Trump repaid the attention in public. In the Knesset on October 13, 2025, he pointed her out: "She's got US$60 billion (S$77.8 billion) in the bank," Reuters reported via AsiaOne, and he credited the Adelsons with shaping his decisions on Jerusalem, the embassy move and the occupied Golan Heights. He told the chamber he had asked her: "What do you love more, the United States or Israel?" and that "She refused to answer." At the White House Hanukkah event on December 16, 2025, he said of a third term: "She said, 'Think about it, I'll give you another $250 million,'" Newsweek reported. The donor got the policies she wanted. Trump kept saying so out loud.
Sources: jta.org, asiaone.com, realclearpolitics.com, newsweek.com
Jared Kushner, the son-in-law who helped broker the October 2025 Gaza ceasefire as an envoy, runs Affinity Partners. In a March 19, 2026 letter, ranking Democrats Robert Garcia and Ron Wyden wrote that Affinity managed about $3 billion in foreign money, "including $2 billion from the Saudi Public Investment Fund", and took about $157 million in fees, $87 million of it directly from the Saudi government. The letter also named the Qatar Investment Authority as a source. CNN reported on October 1, 2026, as relayed by the Daily Caller, that Affinity held a "7.4% stake worth more than $1 billion" in Israel's Phoenix Financial, which invested in suppliers to the Israeli military, including Elbit Systems.
The Trump Organization's own regional deals followed. Qatar's state-owned Qatari Diar and the Saudi developer Dar Global announced a $5.5 billion Trump golf resort in Qatar on April 30, 2025 (Newsweek). Dar Global announced a $1 billion Trump-branded project in Saudi Arabia in September 2025, after Trump Tower Jeddah (PBS NewsHour). Qatar's government gave Trump a Boeing 747-8, unveiled as Air Force One on June 19, 2026 and reported by CBS News as a $400 million plane.
Days into his term, Trump released the 2,000-pound bombs the previous administration had held back over their use in densely populated Gaza. "We released them. We released them today. And they'll have them. They paid for them," he told reporters on Air Force One, The Times of Israel reported on January 26, 2025.
By March 1, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had used emergency authority to rush about $4 billion in military assistance to Israel, and said the administration had approved "nearly $12 billion in major foreign military sales to Israel" since January 20, VOA reported. A week into the war on Iran, Rubio again waived congressional review to sell Israel more than 20,000 bombs worth around $650 million, Reuters reported via The Times of Israel on March 8, 2026. Representative Gregory Meeks called it "an emergency of the Trump administration's own creation."
A tally of notifications to Congress and State Department data published by The New Arab on September 25, 2026 puts the arms deals Trump approved for Israel between January 20, 2025 and September 17, 2026 at $21.6 billion, including $7.4 billion in February 2025, $6.67 billion in January 2026 and a $2.8 billion package in September 2026.
Sources: timesofisrael.com, voanews.com, The Times of Israel, newarab.com
Trump went after those who documented the crimes. Executive Order 14203 of February 6, 2025 sanctioned the International Criminal Court for "illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel" and attacked the "baseless arrest warrants" for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. Prosecutor Karim Khan was listed immediately, and on June 5, 2025 four judges were added, two of whom had approved those warrants, Verfassungsblog reported. On July 9, 2025, Rubio sanctioned UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, the author of a report on companies profiting from the genocide, over what he called a "campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel". She dismissed it as "mafia style intimidation techniques", Al Jazeera reported.
At home, he celebrated the March 2025 ICE detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder who was not charged with any crime: "This is the first arrest of many to come... We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers," he posted. Abroad, he wrote to Israel's president on November 12, 2025: "I hereby call on you to fully pardon Benjamin Netanyahu", who is on trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!
— Donald Trump, Truth Social post, Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026
The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We'll own it
— Donald Trump, White House press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu, February 4, 2025 (reported February 5, 2025)
Based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran. We think it was done by Iran – because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions.
— Donald Trump, to reporters on the Minab girls' school strike, Saturday, March 7, 2026
Iran also has some Tomahawks.
— Donald Trump, press conference, March 9, 2026 (rated False by PolitiFact)
if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East
— Donald Trump, Truth Social post, December 2, 2024
Because of Hezbollah, they were not included in the deal.
— Donald Trump, to PBS, April 8, 2026, the day Israeli strikes killed at least 254 people in Lebanon; he called Lebanon a "separate skirmish"
So Miriam, I know you love Israel. What do you love more, the United States or Israel?
— Donald Trump, speech to the Knesset, October 13, 2025, singling out megadonor Miriam Adelson
This is the first arrest of many to come.
— Donald Trump, Truth Social post on the ICE detention of Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil, March 10, 2025
I hereby call on you to fully pardon Benjamin Netanyahu
— Donald Trump, letter to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, November 12, 2025
● confirmed by a primary document · ○ reported
he gathered Oracle founder Larry Ellison, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son at the Roosevelt Room in the White House to unveil a $500 billion artificial intelligence project
In late December 2025, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded Boeing a contract valued at up to $8.6 billion to manufacture F-15IA fighter jets for Israel.
In early 2026, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu lobbied President Donald Trump for a joint military strike on Iran.
On 27 February at 3:38 p.m. EST, Trump, traveling on Air Force One to Texas, authorized Operation Epic Fury.
I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic's technology.
In February 2025, the second Donald Trump administration signed Executive Order 14203 sanctioning ICC personnel with asset freezes and travel bans.
He also served in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2021.
Within weeks, Wall Street billionaire Larry Fink was on the line with the White House. ... The deal, which will hand the seller $19 billion
WASHINGTON, February 7, 2025 - The State Department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Israel of Munitions, Guidance Kits, Fuzes, and Munitions Support and related equipment for an estimated cost of $6.75 billion.
She was the third largest donor to Trump's 2024 election bid, donating $106 million. ... sought support from Trump for Israel's annexation of the West Bank
Brockman, whose OpenAI is at the center of the artificial intelligence boom, gave $12.5 million to the Trump super PAC in September. ... His wife, Anna, appears to have also donated the same amount that same day.
"signed a declaration to use emergency authorities to expedite the delivery of approximately $4 billion in military assistance to Israel" ... over 35,500 MK 84 and BLU-117 bombs
"I don't think that the Israelis are purposely trying to go in and murder every Palestinian."
Trump acquired at least $10 million in defense stocks during the period in question
roughly 21,000 disclosed securities trades in Trump's first year in office
The Secretary of State has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Israel of Munitions ... an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale
two hundred one (201) MK 83 MOD 4/MOD 5 General Purpose 1,000-pound bomb bodies ... four thousand seven hundred ninety-nine (4,799) BLU-110A/B General Purpose 1,000-pound bomb bodies ... one thousand five hundred (1,500) KMU-559C/B Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kits ... three thousand five hundred (3,500) KMU-559J/B JDAM guidance kits ... $675.7 million ... Repkon USA, located in Tampa, FL; and The Boeing Company, located in St. Charles, MO ... Deliveries are estimated to begin in 2028
3,000 AGM-114 Hellfire Air-to-Ground Missiles ... an estimated cost of $660 million ... The principal contractor will be the Lockheed Martin Corporation, located in Troy, AL.
In 2024, he donated $5 million to Trump's re-election campaign.
$1 million donation to MAGA Inc. in December 2024
Amazon subsequently donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration, at which Bezos was in attendance.
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed to ABC News that Altman donated $1 million to the inaugural committee in December.
I think if it were a different President, it might not have been possible. But we are thrilled to get to do this.
I am planning to vote for change and support Donald Trump for President.