Huckabee warns Iran not to ‘test’ Trump as tensions simmer

International Huckabee warns Iran not to ‘test’ Trump as tensions simmer Comments: by Sophie Brams - 07/11/26 2:09 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Sophie Brams - 07/11/26 2:09 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee warned Tehran on Saturday not to “test” the U.S. military after repeated threats from President Trump in recent days to carry out further strikes on Iranian infrastructure if the regime does not back down to U.S. demands.

“The president’s trying to give them one more chance, one more warning, one more understanding,” Huckabee argued during an appearance NewsNation’s “Morning in America.”

“They need to deal with the fact that they’re confronting the most powerful military in the history of the world,” he told host Anna Kooiman, adding, “Do they really want to test its limits? Let’s hope they don’t.”

U.S. Central Command conducted retaliatory strikes against roughly 90 targets inside Iran this week in response to reported attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic oil corridor in the Gulf that has been the epicenter of fighting since the war erupted in late February.

“The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway,” Cenctom said Wednesday in a statement on the social platform X.

Iran has also fired drones and missiles toward U.S. allies in the Middle East in recent days, including three countries that host U.S. military assets and troops.

The escalation is unfolding against the backdrop of a 60-day ceasefire agreement that Trump says in no longer in effect. Since the deal was signed electronically last month, both sides have accused the other of violating its conditions.

It also comes amid reported Israeli intelligence indicating an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Trump, possibly to avenge the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in targeted strikes on his compound on Feb. 28.

Trump said late Friday that he has directed the U.S. military to “decimate and destroy” Iran should something happen to him.

“1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Some U.S. officials suggested to CNN this week that the Israeli intelligence report could have been an attempt to influence the president’s thinking as he weighs continued military action against Iran, however.

Israel has become somewhat of a wildcard in the ongoing regional talks, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemingly pursuing different end goals in the conflict than his U.S. counterpart.

Trump’s frustration with the prime minister came on display during a heated phone call early last month, in which he called Netanyahu “f—ing crazy.”

Huckabee brushed off any notion of a serious rift between the two world leaders on Saturday, maintaining that they have an “extraordinarily good relationship.”

“This idea that somehow a big gap between Israel and the United States and between the president and the prime minister, it’s maybe the pipe dream of people who don’t like either one of them, but it is not the reality that I’m sitting in a front row seat to observe,” the ambassador said.