Claim
Reporting
As tensions between the United States and Iran escalated in June 2019, a number of memes circulated that purportedly depicted tweets sent by Donald Trump between 2011 and 2013 — predicting that former United States President Barack Obama would fabricate a reason to attack Iran to divert attention from his administration.
At least two versions of tweet collections circulated on Facebook and Twitter. The first showed four:
Its corresponding tweets:
In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2011
Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin – watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 9, 2012
I predict that President Obama will at some point attack Iran in order to save face!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 16, 2013
Remember what I previously said–Obama will someday attack Iran in order to show how tough he is.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2013
Another iteration had six tweets:
Corresponding tweets:
Don't let Obama play the Iran card in order to start a war in order to get elected–be careful Republicans!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2012
Remember that I predicted a long time ago that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly-not skilled!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2013
Remember what I previously said–Obama will someday attack Iran in order to show how tough he is.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2013
I always said @BarackObama will attack Iran, in some form, prior to the election.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 16, 2012
Between the two memes of tweets sent from President Trump’s account, only one common tweet existed between them; on the second meme, one of the six tweets appears twice. Nevertheless, all eight tweets are authentic and undoctored, genuinely published by @realDonaldTrump in 2011, 2012, and 2013 concerning his belief that President Obama would attack Iran for various reasons — to “save face,” to “get re-elected,” because of low poll numbers, because of his inability to negotiate, and to “show how tough he is.”
Twitter results for some of the many statements Trump made with respect to Obama and Iran can be found here and here.
