Trump didn’t want Israel to strike. They did it anyway.

In the hours before Israeli warplanes carried out an attack on Iran early Friday, raising fresh fears of all-out war in the region, President Donald Trump made clear it was an outcome he hoped to avoid.

“I don’t want them going in because, I mean, that would blow it,” he said, referring to his diplomatic efforts to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

The fact Israel went in anyway – without any US involvement, and against the president’s publicly stated wishes – now thrusts Trump into one of the biggest tests of his young presidency. After promising as a candidate to end foreign wars and keep American troops out of faraway conflicts, his ability to avoid getting mired in a new Middle East war now faces reality.