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Published : 23 Apr 2026, 12:13 PM
Former US secretary of state John Kerry says that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously proposed a war with Iran to three previous US presidents, but they had all declined, reports NDTV.
"Obama said no. Bush said no. President Biden said no. I mean, I was part of those conversations," he said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
They had all decided to avoid the war because they had not "exhausted all the remedies of peaceful process", Kerry said.
"And speaking as a veteran of the Vietnam War, where decisions like that were so critical, we were lied to about what that war was about, and 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," he said.
Iran’s Press TV reposted the clip on its social media account, writing: "Former US Secretary of State John Kerry says that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had proposed the war on Iran to presidents Obama, Bush, and Biden, but they all refused. The prediction was regime change, that people would rise up, but we saw that none of that happened."
A New York Times report has described how the Israeli prime minister convinced Trump to attack Iran alongside Israel.
"In the Situation Room on Feb 11, Netanyahu made a hard sell, suggesting that Iran was ripe for regime change and expressing the belief that a joint US-Israeli mission could finally bring an end to the Islamic Republic," the report stated.
Trump apparently responded "Sounds good to me," and subsequently signalled a green light for the joint US-Israeli operation, it said.
Kerry described Netanyahu’s argument as a “prediction”, noting the Iranian people had not risen up after the attacks or overthrown the government.
