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One of Donald Trump’s close White House advisers has called for the US to “find the off-ramp” in its conflict with Iran, the first public signal of discontent over the war from a senior figure in his administration.
“This is a good time to declare victory and get out,” David Sacks, Trump’s AI and crypto tsar, said on the All-In podcast he co-hosts. Such a move “is clearly what the markets would like to see”, he added.
The intervention from Sacks, a leading venture capitalist who has driven the administration’s policies on artificial intelligence, came after Trump this month said the US could keep fighting Iran “forever”.
That prompted a backlash from prominent figures in his Maga coalition, who voted for the president in part because he pledged to end foreign wars.
Trump has since told reporters the war could end “soon”, but on Friday said the US had “obliterated every MILITARY target” on Kharg Island, Iran’s crucial Gulf oil export hub.
“For reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island,” Trump added. “However, should Iran . . . do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.”
In his comments on All-In, Sacks raised specific concerns about the consequences of further attacks by the US on such 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 gets hit, “they could continue to target the oil and gas infrastructure across the Gulf states . . . that would be a much worse outcome”, he added.
Further escalation “could render the Gulf almost uninhabitable”, Sacks said, mentioning Saudi Arabia in particular. “That would be a truly catastrophic scenario.”
Sacks, a longtime critic of foreign intervention, who has opposed further US involvement in the war in Ukraine, singled out Israel as the biggest potential flashpoint.
“If this war continues for weeks or months, then Israel could just be destroyed,” he said. “Their air defences could become exhausted . . . And then you have to worry about Israel escalating the war by contemplating using a nuclear weapon.”
The intervention by Sacks, who is close to Elon Musk and several other tech billionaires, came as an account linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard named US tech groups, including Amazon and Oracle, as potential targets.
Sacks is also close to vice-president JD Vance, who Trump on Monday described as being “maybe less enthusiastic” about the initial strikes on Iran.
The White House and Sacks did not respond to requests for comment.
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