Peter Thiel (AFP via Getty)
Billionaire technology investor and major Republican donor Peter Thiel has expressed serious reservations about President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, arguing the United States should have never launched the conflict, Politico reported Wednesday.
Thiel made the remarks in an Oct. 12 private lecture in Nashville, Tennessee, according to audio obtained by Politico, offering his most explicit publicly revealed criticism of a war that has become a contentious political issue for Republicans ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
“I’m skeptical of [the war], I think we should not have done it,” Thiel said. “There were a lot of mistakes that were made.”
“Maybe we don’t have the hard power. Maybe we’re going to lose the soft power war,” he added.
The criticism comes as the conflict has dragged on far longer than the relatively brief military campaign initially envisioned by the Trump administration, complicating the president’s promises to avoid prolonged U.S. involvement in Middle East wars.
The conflict has also emerged as an issue in the midterm campaign, with Democrats criticizing its duration and costs as Republicans seek to retain control of Congress.
Although the extent to which the Iran conflict has contributed to Republican electoral difficulties is difficult to isolate, its continuation into the final weeks of the campaign has complicated the GOP’s efforts to focus attention on domestic priorities.
Thiel, an early Trump supporter, nevertheless emphasized his continued backing of the president while expressing opposition to neoconservative foreign policy and U.S. military intervention in the Middle East.
Thiel also raised concerns about the International Criminal Court and the potential legal consequences facing American officials involved in the conflict.
“I read the Cheney family’s Trump derangement syndrome as an attempt to buy favor with the [International Criminal Court] and avoid prosecution. Probably too late,” Thiel said.
“And I have come to suspect that the threat of an ICC arrest warrant is the sword of Damocles hanging over the Trump administration as it tries to persecute this war in Iran.”
Thiel also recounted a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in early 2024, after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
Asked about his plans for Gaza, Netanyahu reportedly told Thiel, “I can’t just Dresdenize it,” invoking the devastating Allied bombing of the German city during World War II.
Thiel was among the first prominent Silicon Valley investors to support Trump in 2016 and spoke at that year’s Republican National Convention.
He later became the largest financial backer of super PACs supporting now-Vice President JD Vance’s successful 2022 Senate campaign.
His comments also underscore divisions within Trump’s political coalition over the Iran conflict. Politico reported in March that Vance himself had been skeptical of striking Iran before the administration launched its military operation.
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