Shapiro Said if the US Backed Off Iran, Israel Would Be Forced to Ramp Up Its Military and Probably Attack Iran Itself

Claim: Ben Shapiro urged Trump to strike Iran, saying that if he didn't, Israel would have to build up its military to defend itself

Verdict: True.

• The post: The X post from @AFpost (February 25, 2026) said Ben Shapiro urged Trump to strike Iran, "saying that if he doesn't, the real consequences will fall on Israel, which will have to build up its military to defend itself." The clip is Shapiro at the Daily Wire desk. @infolibnews posted the same clip a few minutes earlier with more of the wording.
• The show: It is from The Ben Shapiro Show episode 2375, "CHECKMATE: Omar, Tlaib HUMILIATE Themselves, Trump SOARS at SOTU," posted February 25, 2026, the morning after Trump's State of the Union. Around 31:05, after playing Trump on Iran, Shapiro said the live question was whether Trump would actually run a multi-week air campaign:

“The question really, in the end, is going to be whether the president of the United States is too concerned about the possibility of a multi-week air campaign against the Iranians to actually do it. And the Iranians just bluff him. That’s really all this is about.”

• He then said nobody was talking about occupying Tehran:

“No one, again, no one is talking about a massive ground invasion of Tehran. No one is talking about a long-term occupation of Tehran. Nobody is talking about hundreds of thousands of American boots on the ground in theater. Nobody’s talking about that.”

• The strike he was pushing was that air campaign. Around 31:33:

“The question here for the president is, what is the risk reward here for a multi-week air campaign to defenestrate the IRGC, Iran?”

• Then the Israel line, around 31:48. He said the costs of backing off would not be limited to the Middle East:

“If the United States backs off of this and cuts some sort of unbelievably weak deal, the consequences will not just be for the Middle East, where Israel will be forced to ramp up its military even more, and probably go and attack Iran itself, given Iran’s capacity and increasing capacity in both nuclear and ballistic missile development, and its renewed attempts to support terrorism.”

• What the post compressed: "Urges Trump to strike Iran" is a fair reading of the air-campaign argument. "Build up its military to defend itself" is softer than what he said. He said Israel would be forced to "ramp up its military even more, and probably go and attack Iran itself." He also did not say the consequences would fall on Israel alone. He named Russia looking at Ukraine and China looking at Taiwan in the next sentences.

In plain language:

Yes. On the February 25, 2026 show he argued Trump should not be bluffed out of a multi-week air campaign against Iran, and that if the United States backed off and cut a weak deal, Israel would be forced to ramp up its military even more and probably attack Iran itself.