President Donald Trump on Thursday implored Israel not to attack Iran and declared once again his goal was to be a peacemaker.
Hours later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of Trump's closest international allies, instead unleashed a major military campaign described as a "preemptive" strike against Iran's nuclear program.
The attack marks only the latest challenge for Trump as he aims to fulfill a second-term goal as a "man of peace."
Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom Trump has also boasted a warm relationship, has rebuffed his overtures on a ceasefire with Ukraine.
And Israel resumed another massive offensive in Gaza after talks bogged down on extending a ceasefire with Hamas reached with Trump's support at the end of his predecessor Joe Biden's term.
Trump's friend and roving envoy Steve Witkoff -- who has negotiated in all three crises -- had been set to meet Iranian officials again Sunday in Oman.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement made clear the United States was not involved in attacking Iran and warned Tehran not to retaliate against U.S. troops in the region.
Trump, hours before the Israel strikes, doubled down with a social media post saying he remained "committed to a diplomatic resolution" on Iran.
Netanyahu has described Iran's cleric-run government, which backs Hamas, as an existential threat and already last year ordered strikes that knocked out its air defenses.
"We've clearly seen a fork in the road in the American and Israeli approaches to this problem set," said Dana Stroul, a former senior Pentagon official who is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"These strikes are going to disrupt and delay and degrade Iran's nuclear program. The question, I think, is whether or not the United States and Israel in the future are going to work together on what to do to maximize the time that's put back on the clock," she said.