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One of President Donald Trump's close White House advisers publicly called for the U.S. to end its conflict with Iran, as growing dissent within the MAGA movement, bipartisan congressional alarm over war strategy and sharp criticism from former allies laid bare a widening rift over the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran.
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David Sacks, Trump's AI and crypto adviser, said on the All-In podcast he co-hosts that the U.S. should "find the off-ramp" in its conflict with Iran.
"This is a good time to declare victory and get out," Sacks said, adding that such a move "is clearly what the markets would like to see."
Sacks raised specific concerns about the consequences of further U.S. strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure, including the prospect of nuclear war.
"You are seeing a faction of people, I would say largely but not exclusively in the Republican Party, who want to escalate the war," he said.
"If more Iranian energy infrastructure is hit, 'they could continue to target the oil and gas infrastructure across the Gulf states... that would be a much worse outcome," Sacks said.
"Further escalation could render the Gulf almost uninhabitable," he added, mentioning Saudi Arabia in particular. "That would be a truly catastrophic scenario," he noted.
Sacks also warned about Israel's position in a prolonged conflict.
"If this war continues for weeks or months, then Israel could just be destroyed. Their air defences could become exhausted... And then you have to worry about Israel escalating the war by contemplating using a nuclear weapon," he stated.
Sacks is close to Vice President JD Vance, whom Trump on Monday described as being "maybe less enthusiastic" about the initial strikes on Iran.
The intervention came as an account linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard named U.S. tech groups, including Amazon and Oracle, as potential targets.
The remarks came after Trump said this month the U.S. could keep fighting Iran "forever," prompting a backlash from prominent MAGA figures who voted for Trump in part because he pledged to end foreign wars.
Trump has since told reporters the war could end "soon."
Former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said Thursday that the Trump administration and the Republican Party are "going in the wrong direction" on key issues, including the Iran war. In a post on X, Greene said she spoke with "some of the top America First Conservative leaders" and there was broad agreement that the party had been "hijacked by the Lindsey Grahams, Mark Levin, and the neocon establishment Republicans we all voted against."
"The admin and Republican Party is going in the wrong direction on key issues, like the war, Epstein, and especially domestic issues," Greene wrote.
Conservative commentator and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson called the conflict "Israel's war" rather than America's, and criticized a strike on an Iranian all-girls school that reportedly killed more than 170 victims, mostly children.
Several U.S. media outlets cited preliminary findings suggesting the strike may have been carried out by the U.S., though the Pentagon has not confirmed those findings as the investigation remains ongoing.
"If you wake up in the morning and you're living in the kind of country that thinks it's okay to kill not simply military officers but their daughters, that country is not worth fighting for," Carlson said.
Trump rejected Carlson's criticism, telling ABC News that "Tucker has lost his way," insisting Carlson is "not MAGA." "MAGA is America First, and Tucker is none of those things," Trump said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham drew sharp criticism after saying in a Fox News interview that he would ask his constituents to send their "sons and daughters" to fight in the Middle East.
Rep. Nancy Mace said she does not want to send "South Carolina's sons and daughters into war with Iran."
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna wrote on X that if Graham "wants to go fight in a foreign conflict, let him be the first to volunteer." Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly called Graham "a homicidal maniac" and urged Trump to end the war.
Several polls show a majority of Americans oppose the initial strikes on Iran.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy criticized the Trump administration's decision to go to war with Iran, saying Israel should not determine when Washington enters a conflict.
"Why do we sell them the most sophisticated weapons in the world, if they can dictate terms to us on when we put U.S. lives at risk in the Middle East?" Murphy told reporters on Capitol Hill, according to Drop Site News.
"We should have leverage over Israel. Israel should not be telling us when to wage war against Iran. What kind of partnership is this?," he stated.
Murphy also said he remains unconvinced by the administration's justification for the war, noting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others said the U.S. "wouldn't have attacked unless Israel was already planning on attacking."
Murphy said the Trump administration's plans for the war appear "incoherent and incomplete" following a two-hour closed-door congressional briefing that included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
"So they are going to spend hundreds of billions of your taxpayer dollars, get a whole bunch of Americans killed, and a hardline regime, probably a MORE anti-American hardline regime, will still be in charge," Murphy wrote on X after the briefing.
Murphy said the briefing suggested that destroying Iran's nuclear weapons program is not among the listed war goals, and that regime change in Tehran is not part of the strategy.
He said the primary focus is targeting Iranian missiles, boats and drone factories. "But the question that stumped them: what happens when you stop bombing and they restart production? They hinted at more bombing. Which is, of course, endless war," he said.
Murphy also warned that officials did not present a clear plan for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Senator Richard Blumenthal said he left the briefing "dissatisfied and angry," warning that the conflict could lead to the deployment of U.S. ground troops in Iran.
"We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran to accomplish any of the potential objectives," Blumenthal told reporters.
Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned the financial burden of the war.
"The one part that seems clear is that while there is no money for 15 million Americans who lost their health care, there's a billion dollars a day to spend on bombing Iran," Warren said.
Republican Senator Rand Paul said he does not think there was an "imminent threat" of attack from Iran.
"We're also told we're going to free the oppressed people of Iran. I hope and wish for them to have freedom, but if our foreign policy is to free oppressed people, the wars would never end," Paul said.
"I'm going to continue to advocate for the Donald Trump who didn't advocate for regime change," he noted.
Since Israel and the U.S. launched joint attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, killing more than 1,300 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and more than 150+ schoolgirls, Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Gulf countries hosting U.S. military assets.
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