Billionaire hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman says "Iran remains an existential threat to Israel, America and the world" and insists "this is not the time to negotiate. It is time to finish the job," escalating calls for U.S. military support of Israel against Tehran.
What Happened: Ackman posted the remarks on X after Israel urged Washington to help destroy Iran's fortified Fordow nuclear complex, a target Israeli warplanes cannot penetrate without U.S. bunker-buster bombs. In earlier weekend threads he framed the moment as "the lowest-risk, highest-probability" window to end Iran's program and argued a brief U.S. air campaign would avoid "boots on the ground."
"Iran's repeated refrain of ‘Death to America' says it all," Ackman wrote, echoing warnings by Israeli officials that Iran's missile arsenal now reaches American assets in the Gulf.
The Pershing Square Capital CEO added that dismantling Iran's nuclear capability and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' financing of Yemen's Houthis would deliver a "massive peace dividend" by cutting terror attacks on global shipping lanes.
Why It Matters: President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the United States is "not currently involved," but did not rule out future action. Some lawmakers urged restraint, with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky) calling Israeli strikes "reckless" and warning against funding "a war of aggression."
On Monday, Trump urged Tehran's 10 million residents to evacuate "immediately," warning on Truth Social that "Iran can not have a nuclear weapon" and lamenting that the regime rejected his proposed deal. The president will leave the G7 summit early "because of what's going on in the Middle East," his press secretary said, as crypto markets priced in higher odds that U.S. forces could join Israel's expanding strikes on Iran.
Israel's bombardment of Iranian missile sites has slowed Tehran's retaliatory launches, but tensions keep rising. Trump reiterated that any hit on U.S. personnel or assets would trigger an unprecedented response, while Iranian lawmakers weighed exiting the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
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