Top Harris advisers urge Trump to rein in Israeli strikes on Iran

Former Obama-era aides warn of escalating conflict, call for U.S.-led diplomatic push over military action.

By David Brummer, World Israel News

Two of former vice president Kamala Harris’s closest Middle East policy advisers are raising red flags over Israel’s recent military strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites.

In response, they are urging U.S. President Donald Trump to press Israel for de-escalation and renew diplomacy with Tehran.

Phil Gordon, Harris’s national security adviser during her 2024 presidential campaign and a former Obama administration official, warned on Friday that military action risks spiraling into wider conflict.

“I would have found it too risky to initiate military force with all that that could unleash,” Gordon told Jewish Insider.

“My approach would’ve been to try to get an enduring, diplomatically negotiated nuclear arrangement that prevented Iran from being able to get a nuclear weapon.”

However, the credible intelligence that Israel highlighted, showing that Tehran was stalling for time as it rushed ahead with its nuclear ambitions, somewhat undermines this argument.

Gordon said that if he were still in a policymaking role, he would have sought alternatives to military strikes.

“That’s why I would have sought, if at all possible, to do it a different way,” he added.

The Israeli operation overnight Thursday killed several senior Iranian commanders and destroyed parts of the Natanz nuclear facility, significantly setting back Tehran’s uranium enrichment capabilities.

Still, Gordon questioned the long-term utility of the move.

“It definitely has set back the timetable for Iran’s nuclear capacity, but it hasn’t eliminated it… and we don’t know what happens in terms of retaliation.”

Gordon also suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressured Trump into backing the strikes.

“A lot of his advisers… are against U.S. military interventions in the Middle East,” he said, pointing to figures like JD Vance and Tucker Carlson.

However, this belies the very public slapdown Trump gave to Carlson (although not directly by name) in a recent interview with The Atlantic.

“Well, considering that I’m the one who developed ‘America First,’ and considering the term wasn’t used until I came along, I think I’m the one that decides that,” Trump said. “For those people who say they want peace—you can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon.”

“Trump really wanted to avoid military conflict and negotiate a deal and be the guy who got a better deal than Obama,” Gordon added.

Ilan Goldenberg, another Harris campaign adviser and former Iran expert at the Pentagon, echoed those concerns.

“The appropriate position for the United States to be in now is the role of de-escalator,” said Goldenberg, now policy chief at J Street.

“The better, less risky option… was the diplomatic option. Unfortunately, it’s not the way it went.”

J Street released a statement Friday calling for an immediate halt to the “cycle of retaliation and escalation” and a renewed diplomatic process between the U.S. and Iran.

Goldenberg praised Israel’s military execution but warned of unclear strategic aims.

“The Israelis are incredibly good operationally, but they have challenges sometimes translating that into a strategic kind of sustainable victory,” he said.

“What’s the end state here? Or is the objective to just be in constant conflict?”

While Trump has taken credit for the strike’s success, he also indicated on Truth Social that Iran still has a “second chance” at a nuclear deal.

Goldenberg agreed, urging Trump to make clear to both sides: “There are limits to this. We can’t see this get out of control.”

Donald TrumpIranian threatJ StreetKamala HarrisOperation Rising LionPhil GordonUS foreign policyUS-Israel relations