Former US Secretary of State John Kerry has revealed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly pushed successive American presidents to support military action against Iran, but each time the proposal was turned down.
Speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Kerry confirmed that similar discussions also took place during the Obama administration, when he was serving as Secretary of State.
‘Yes,’ Kerry said when asked whether Netanyahu had made the case for war. When asked about the US response, he replied: ‘No.’
‘Obama, Bush, Biden all said no’
Kerry said the rejection of military action was consistent across multiple US administrations.
‘Obama said no, uh, Bush said no, President Biden said no,’ he said, referring to former presidents George W Bush and Joe Biden.
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‘I mean, I was part of those conversations. I remember them well.’
He added that the US position was driven by a preference for diplomacy over military escalation.
‘We just felt that we had not exhausted all the remedies of a peaceful process,’ Kerry said.
Claims of regime change expectations
Referring to reporting by The New York Times, Kerry said Netanyahu’s proposals also included predictions that strikes on Iran could trigger internal unrest and regime change.
‘The article made it clear that, uh, Prime Minister Netanyahu made his case,’ he said.
He explained the expected outcome as, ‘we’re gonna have, uh, a rebellion… people will, you know, regime change, people take over the country.’
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‘And, of course, that… none of it happened,’ he added.
Kerry also mentioned that according to the same report, a later discussion involving Donald Trump ended with a brief response: ‘Okay, by me.’
Warning against misleading wars
Drawing from his Vietnam War experience, Kerry warned against initiating conflicts based on misleading assumptions or incomplete information.
‘We were lied to about what that war was about,’ he said.
‘The lesson of that war, and of Iraq, is don’t lie to the American people and then ask them to send their sons and daughters to fight. Don’t do that.’
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Context of Israel-Iran tensions
The comments come amid ongoing geopolitical tensions involving Iran and Israel. Earlier reports suggested that Israel supported a temporary US pause on strikes against Iran to allow space for negotiations, with certain conditions related to regional security.
While the pause was aimed at reducing escalation, tensions in the region remain high, with concerns continuing over Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities.
