Van Hollen argues Netanyahu found Trump 'stupid enough' to drag him into Iran war

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday of pulling President Donald Trump into the war with Iran during an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," as the president returned from a China summit without Beijing making a specific commitment to help broker an end to the conflict.

"The president got dragged into this war. Prime Minister Netanyahu said that he'd been waiting 40 years for somebody to go to war with him in Iran. He found a president stupid enough to do it," he said. "I blame Donald Trump for that decision, but here we are."

Van Hollen said the U.S. does not need China to end the fighting, arguing that Trump could stop the war by changing course.

"I don't think we need China's support," Van Hollen said. "I think the fastest way to end the war in Iran is just to stop digging a hole even deeper, and that's what we should do right now."

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The Maryland Democrat said Trump had campaigned on avoiding new wars and lowering costs, but that the conflict had undercut both promises.

"After all, Donald Trump was the candidate who said he was going to keep us out of wars, and he was going to focus on bringing down prices, and of course he's done just the opposite," Van Hollen said. "Gas and other prices are going through the roof."

When asked whether diplomacy could still produce another nuclear agreement with Iran, Van Hollen pointed to the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 accord struck by Iran, the United States and other world powers.

"Well, I know if we had people who are willing to negotiate, we could get it done because we got that done when President Obama was in office," Van Hollen said.

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"The JCPOA prevented Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. It dramatically contained its nuclear enrichment program, and it had the world's most intense inspection regime."

Van Hollen also cited Trump's past claim that his administration had already destroyed Iran's nuclear enrichment program.

"Just last year, Donald Trump told the country that he had obliterated Iran's nuclear enrichment program, taken care of it, and his head of DNI, Tulsi Gabbard, testified that they have no evidence that Iran wants to resume it," Van Hollen said.

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Van Hollen's criticism came a week after Netanyahu told CBS's "60 Minutes" that Iran's nuclear material still had to be removed for the war to end.

"You go in, and you take it out," Netanyahu said when asked how the highly enriched uranium should be removed.

The White House has defended the Iran campaign as a military effort to eliminate an "imminent nuclear threat," and said in June 2025 that Iran's nuclear facilities had been "obliterated."

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately hear back.