Trump’s decision to drag the US into war was largely shaped by the Israeli PM’s “fanatical” and misguided agenda, the economist says
American economist Jeffrey Sachs has sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, arguing that US President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran was heavily influenced by what he described as Netanyahu’s “fanatical” and misguided agenda.
Trump has repeatedly faced criticism, both domestically and internationally, for pursuing policies widely seen as closely aligned with Israeli interests across both his first and current presidential terms. Analysts and political opponents have often pointed to a broader shift in US foreign policy that allegedly favors the agenda of the Jewish State under Netanyahu.
“Trump’s decision basically led by Netanyahu,” Sachs told US conservative journalist and podcaster Tucker Carlson.
In a video interview published on Friday, the economist noted that Netanyahu has an agenda, stressing that the US president bought into what Sachs called the Israeli prime minister’s wrong understanding of the world.
“His agenda, in my mind, is fanatical and wrong, and has been mistaken for 30 years, and has cost America a fortune,” Sachs said. “I think the man is a disaster, I think he has the wrong framework of the world, just a wrong understanding.”
The comment comes as Trump extended the ceasefire with Tehran indefinitely on Tuesday to allow time for a potential deal, while keeping an American naval blockade of Iranian ports in place.
The US Democratic Party and some Republicans, as well as former US National Counterterrorism Center chief Joe Kent, have argued that Trump had been pressured by Israel to launch the Iran war.
Kent, who resigned from his position last month in protest of the war, has claimed that intelligence agencies could not confirm Trump’s allegations that Iran has been pursuing nuclear weapons.
Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, have framed the conflict as Trump betraying his “America First” agenda in favor of “Israel First.”
Last week, Carlson slammed Trump’s Middle East policies, claiming that the president’s true religion is “Israelism” rather than Christianity. Trump’s former supporter argued that the US had launched the war against Iran “on behalf of Israel” and “at the instigation of Israel.”
