Trump when asked whether he trusts Netanyahu: ‘In politics I don’t trust anybody’
US president says Israeli officials want him him to be involved in Netanyahu’s reelection campaign; says US won’t nuke Iran as he considers dropping ‘Mother of All Bombs’
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US President Donald Trump was asked Thursday whether he trusted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and appeared to dodge the question.
“I don’t trust anybody, honestly,” Trump told the right-wing US cable news outlet Newsmax. “In the world of politics I don’t trust anybody.”
Trump has recently been pressed several times on whether he will make an endorsement ahead of Israel’s October 27 election. On Tuesday, the US president claimed that he hadn’t thought about doing so, but that he might.
Netanyahu has long touted his close ties with Trump in electoral campaigns.
The US president also told Newsmax that Israeli officials want him to be involved in Netanyahu’s reelection campaign.
“Well, they’d like me to be. Yeah, they’d like me to be,” Trump said when asked if he plans to involve himself in the election, adding that “the people of Israel, they say if I ran for prime minister, I’d get 99 percent of them.”
NEWSMAX: Do you trust Netanyahu?
TRUMP: I don't trust anybody pic.twitter.com/WeKHfNUj4l
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 16, 2026
Trump added that he and Netanyahu have “a very good relationship” and hailed their “very successful… military partnership” against Iran.
When asked about potentially dropping massive conventional ordnance on Iran, the US president specified he isn’t considering nuking the Islamic Republic.
Trump said he may employ a munition known as the MOAB, short for Massive Ordnance Air Blast but is often referred to as the ‘Mother of All Bombs,’ which he described as “an extremely large bomb. It’s like a tiny nuclear bomb.”
“I wouldn’t use nuclear, we don’t have to,” he stressed. “We are the greatest nuclear power in the world.”
He also said that he doesn’t foresee the deployment of US ground forces in Iran — reports in the past have suggested the US president mulled a ground operation to seize nuclear materials in Iran.
CNN reported Thursday that the US was considering using its biggest non-nuclear bomb to target Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites, if Trump should decide to renew combat in the war that has hit a deadlock.
Weighing 9,500 kilograms (10 tons), the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb is deployed by rolling it out of the back of a cargo plane.
The potential use of the largest non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal would mark a significant escalation in the conflict, although officials familiar with military planning discussions told CNN that questions remain over its effectiveness in achieving Washington’s strategic objectives.
There are also concerns over the possibility of civilian casualties from such a huge weapon.
Trump is trying to boost his low approval ratings ahead of November’s midterm elections, with polls showing the unpopular war in Iran and the rising fuel costs and other price hikes it has caused are hurting his Republican Party.
Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, which erupted with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, have been at an impasse since the summer.
Agencies contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.