Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley offered her first praise for President Trump in several months in a Monday op-ed in Israel Hayom, an Israeli right-wing newspaper. She congratulated his decision to strike three Iranian nuclear sites but warned of further retaliation from Iran.
“Those in America that worry about why these strikes took place should understand that those strikes were a move to keep Americans safer. That was a move to take out one of the threats that Iran has used against Americans for years,” Haley wrote in the outlet owned by Republican megadonor Miriam Adelson.
Israel Hayom is distributed in Hebrew and is also available online in English.
The op-ed is a rare public appearance for Haley, who has largely faded from public view since the 2024 election. When she has spoken on Trump’s foreign policy decisions in recent months, she has often criticized them, panning him for a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and slamming his acceptance of a Qatari jet.
In the opinion piece, however, Haley praised Trump’s decision as “very well done” while arguing that the United States should continue to be hawkish on Iran for the sake of both America and Israel.
“A safe and secure Israel helps us have a safe and secure America,” she wrote, arguing that the chance of diplomacy with Tehran was thin.
“They always say they want to talk, but the action doesn’t match what they want to do,” she wrote. “Trump was right that while you could kick this can down the road if you wanted, the threat would only get bigger.”
She also took aim at the United Nations after Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the strikes, accusing the international arbiter of failing to condemn Iran’s moves on ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.
Haley finished by warning that America and Israel both needed to remain on guard.
“Americans need to be vigilant of our military bases in the region. We need to be vigilant of cyber attacks that could come our way through Iran. Iran is not done,” she wrote.
As Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations during his first term, Haley made the case both to him and to the global stage that the United States should back out of its 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. In the 2024 Republican presidential primary, during which she attempted to criticize the president, she also positioned herself as both a staunch defender of Israel and a Middle East hawk.
After being the last of Trump’s primary challengers to bow out, Haley failed to secure a place in his administration (she claimed she wanted no part in it). She is currently at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, and making her way around the speaker circuit.
