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Mike Huckabee tells Israeli TV that decision on US strike on Iran yet to be made; says embassy surprised by cancellation of flights to Israel; vows Turkey won’t receive F-35s
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in an interview aired Saturday that US President Donald Trump will not disappoint the people of Iran who have been putting their lives on the line to protest the regime.
“This is a president who has made many promises; you’ll be hard-pressed to find one that he hasn’t kept,” Huckabee told Israel’s Channel 12 News. “He doesn’t make empty threats.”
“What I would say to [the people of Iran] is, note carefully what the president says, take him at his word. He will keep his promise,” he added.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in an interview aired Saturday that US President Donald Trump will not disappoint the people of Iran who have been putting their lives on the line to protest the regime.
“This is a president who has made many promises; you’ll be hard-pressed to find one that he hasn’t kept,” Huckabee told Israel’s Channel 12 News. “He doesn’t make empty threats.”
“What I would say to [the people of Iran] is, note carefully what the president says, take him at his word. He will keep his promise,” he added.
At the same time, Huckabee suggested that no decision has been made about a US attack against Tehran, as Trump always hopes for a peaceful solution through which the regime stops threatening Israel and the US, and renounces its nuclear program.
“I would say that the decision still needs to be made,” the ambassador said. “President Trump is always hopeful for the best outcome. He is, in fact, let’s never forget, ‘the art of the deal.’ And if he can get that, then that’s ideal.”
“But if he can’t, he’s not afraid to do what he proved he would do last summer when he instigated Midnight Hammer,” Huckabee added, referring to the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025.
While noncommittal on whether the US will strike Iran, thus possibly sparking an Iranian retaliation against Israel, Huckabee said the US embassy was surprised when some airlines canceled flights to Israel as a result of looming tensions with Iran.
“Last weekend, airlines from around the world started canceling their flights, and honestly, our reaction at the embassy was, ‘what’s that about?’” he said.
“It completely caught us off guard,” he added. “We are not seeing any reason. We are not telling our embassy employees to restrict themselves to your homes, don’t go anywhere.”
Huckabee said that he does not know the timeline for a potential US attack against Iran, nor if “Iran will decide to initiate something” against Israel.
But he stressed that at the moment, he is not hearing Trump refer to a deadline or ultimatum on the decision, and Israelis should go on with their lives, “and if the sirens go off, respond.”
Iran has said that if it is struck by the US, it will retaliate against Israel, and has also threatened US military bases and aircraft carriers in the region.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if Iran continued to kill protesters in its crackdown on the countrywide demonstrations over economic privations and political repression, but the protests have since abated. The US has nevertheless sent a number of warships to the region over the past week.
The US has said a deal with Iran will have to include a ban on uranium enrichment in Iran, the removal of already-enriched uranium from Iran, a cap on Iran’s stockpile of long-range missiles and a rollback of Iran’s support for proxies in the region — all terms that Tehran has said it will not accept.
Turkey not to receive F-35s
Huckabee also told Channel 12 that Turkey, whose government is hostile to Israel, will not be able to buy US F-35 strike fighters, despite Trump suggesting otherwise last month.
“Anyone to think that there’s an equality here, that it’s friend A, friend B, it’s not like that at all,” he said.
“[Turkey] is not going to get them,” he continued. “It has to go to the Senate, and it’s not likely to happen. And also, Turkey, by law, would not be able to get them unless they made major changes in the hardware that they have from Russia.”
The ambassador also said that Turkey and Qatar, whose presence on the Gaza Executive Board has concerned Israel, will not have a role in governing the Strip, but rather the hope is that they can help force Hamas to disarm.
Huckabee expressed confidence that the terror group will ultimately disarm as Trump’s plan for Gaza moves toward phase 2.
“The president said they’re going to disarm; they’re not going to have any role in Gaza,” he said. “How that happens, when it happens, and who’s going to do it? There are some question marks as to the answers to those. I’m convinced that all of those things will happen.”
“You have every Arab country in the world to sign the agreement, saying this is going to happen. Hamas signed the agreement,” he added. “I don’t trust Hamas to do anything, but I trust the rest of the world to say to Hamas, you signed it. You’re on the line for it. If you don’t fulfill it, the whole world is going to rise up and take you down.”
According to Huckabee, while Israel might have a role in this scenario, Hamas’s disarmament will not be left solely to Israel.
“It’ll be up to everybody,” he said.
Asked about a further expansion of the Abraham Accords and ongoing normalization efforts, Huckabee said he expects further nations to join the landmark peace agreements.
The Saudis “have made some conflicting statements, but it’s their decision,” he said.
Huckabee said even Lebanon joining the Abraham Accords “is possible,” citing a recent meeting he had with his counterpart to Beirut, where they discussed “how do we as Americans help our host countries move toward better understanding, deescalating and hopefully moving toward the president’s agenda of joining the Abraham Accords.”
Day in court
Huckabee, asked about his controversial appearance in court at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial last year, said while the US does not intend to interfere with the court, it does take a position on the trial.
“Americans are as blunt as Israelis when it comes to expressing ourselves,” the ambassador said. “Yeah, I think we were taking a position, but it was not a position in challenging the integrity of the Supreme Court, but it was recognizing that what was happening sure mirrored a whole lot of what we saw in the United States going against President Trump.”
The envoy, a close ally of Trump, was referencing numerous criminal cases against the US president, who is the first American leader to ever be convicted of a felony.
Huckabee denied that Netanyahu had asked him to show up in court. He also would not say where he received a doll of Bugs Bunny to hold up outside the trial, a reference to one of the allegations against Netanyahu: “I’ll just say it appeared.”
The US envoy told Channel 12 that the embassy has not had any contact with President Isaac Herzog on the topic of whether he should grant a pardon to Netanyahu, and said Trump respects Israel as a sovereign nation with its own judicial system.
Trump sent an open letter to Herzog in November calling for the president to use his pardoning power for the sake of the indicted premier. The US president later said Herzog told him that a pardon was “on its way,” a claim Herzog denied.
Asked whether Trump will try to openly support Netanyahu in the upcoming election that is set to take place in October 2026 at the latest, the ambassador said it will not happen.
“I don’t think the president is going to get involved in the elections,” he said.
