Ex-presidents deny Trump claim one of them regretted not attacking Iran

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Mar 17, 2026

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All four living former presidents have denied President Donald Trump’s claim that one of them admitted regretting not attacking Iran while in the White House.

Spokespeople for Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden all said the leaders have not spoken to Trump about the conflict, let alone told him they wish they would have started a war against Tehran or killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Trump first dropped the chatty bombshell Monday at a press event during a lunch for board members of the Kennedy Center.

“I’ve spoken to a certain president ... a past president, former president. He said: ‘I wish I did it. I wish I did.’ ” Trump said.

Trump repeated the claim later during another White House event.

Asked to elaborate on which ex-president he was referring to, Trump said it wasn’t Bush. When asked if it was Clinton, Trump said: “I don’t want to say.”

Trump said he didn’t want to reveal the identity of the former commander-in-chief to avoid embarrassing him.

“I don’t want to get into who. I don’t want to get him into trouble,” Trump said.

Then he mused that the information might actually burnish the person’s legacy, which seems highly unlikely especially given that polls say Trump’s war is unpopular with the American public.

“You know, it’s interesting. And maybe he’d be proud,” Trump said about the former president. “And I could even ask him that: ‘Would you like me to reveal your name?’”

The “he said, they said” spat came as new report said Trump has spurned negotiations with Iran and has declined to embrace Pentagon options to deescalate the war.

NBC News says the U.S. military presents Trump with options for off-ramps to the nearly three-week-old war with Tehran in his daily briefing.

The president and top aides have provided an ever-shifting set of rationales for starting the war and aims in the conflict, along with an expected time frame for continuing the attacks.

Trump last week demanded the “unconditional surrender” or Iran said the war will “end soon” while his defense secretary told CBS it was “only just the beginning.” Asked how he would know when the war was won, Trump said: “When I feel it in my bones.”