WASHINGTON >> For weeks, President Donald Trump has been at the center of an ideological war between the isolationists in his MAGA base who have implored him to stay out of Israel’s war with Iran and the pro-Israel hawks who have encouraged him to strike.

On Saturday night, the president left no question about where he stood — at least for now.

“Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” he told the world in a brief news conference from the White House. “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.”

It was a remarkable about-face for someone who as a candidate mercilessly criticized the Bush administration over the Iraq War, called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and once pledged to end the “era of endless wars.” But even as he announced the military operation, he appeared to be rapidly trying to get himself back to the middle by insisting that the strike was a one-off and that he continues to seek peace.

Trump described the bombing campaign as “massive” but also said it was limited, referring to the mission as “precision strikes.”

Still, in attacking Iran, Trump runs the risk of miring the United States deeper in a foreign conflict, even as the president has said he does not want to use U.S. ground troops.

Trump’s followers have supported him through thick and thin, and political reaction so far has been dividing more along partisan than ideological lines.

Charlie Kirk, the influential conservative activist who was among those warning the president against pursuing a war to bring about a change of government, wrote: “Iran gave President Trump no choice. For a decade he has been adamant that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon. Iran decided to forego diplomacy in pursuit of a bomb.”

But Trita Parsi, co-founder of the Quincy Institute, which advocates U.S. military restraint, said Trump risked alienating his most ardent backers who support his “America First” agenda of focusing on domestic issues instead of spending money overseas.

“There isn’t two sides of the base. There is a Washington side of the base and there is the rest of the country,” Parsi said of the debate over involvement in Iran. “Many of them may fall in line temporarily, out of loyalty, out of patriotism. But if the war doesn’t go well, I think you will see a backlash happening much, much sooner, much sooner than what you saw in 2003” when the United States invaded Iraq.

The debate inside the Republican Party has reached a fever pitch in recent days.

On one side, such hawks as Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the former majority leader; Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee; and Fox News host Mark Levin have argued for taking a hard-line approach to Iran.

But some of Trump’s most passionate supporters, including his former adviser Steve Bannon, prominent podcast host Tucker Carlson and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, perhaps the best-known Republican in the House, have argued against U.S. involvement in the war.

“Every time America is on the verge of greatness, we get involved in another foreign war,” Greene wrote Saturday evening on social media. “There would not be bombs falling on the people of Israel if Netanyahu had not dropped bombs on the people of Iran first. Israel is a nuclear armed nation. This is not our fight. Peace is the answer.”

Later that night, after the strikes, Greene appeared to soften her opposition and shifted to criticizing former President Joe Biden’s border policies.

Carlson faced off on a recent episode of his podcast against Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, one of his party’s most outspoken hawks. The confrontation reflected a bitter rift in Trump’s coalition.

“You’re a senator who’s calling for an overthrow of the government and you don’t know anything about the country!” Carlson told Cruz during a heated exchange on his program.

Cruz shot back on his own podcast Wednesday, saying, “On foreign policy, Tucker has gone bat-crap crazy.”

Trump’s stance on Iran has created tension within his own Cabinet. He has criticized Tulsi Gabbard, his director of national intelligence, over statements that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.

“My intelligence community is wrong,” the president said.

Some Republicans have even joined forces with Democrats to try to rein in Trump, asserting that only Congress can declare war and that the president should not carry out military actions in foreign lands without its approval.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., have introduced a bipartisan War Powers Resolution to try to prohibit “United States Armed Forces from unauthorized hostilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

The resolution can be called up for debate and a floor vote after 15 calendar days without action in committee.

On Sunday afternoon, Trump lashed out at Republicans who were not backing him, and went after Massie with particularly harsh language.

“Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is,” the president wrote on social media. “Actually, MAGA doesn’t want him, doesn’t know him, and doesn’t respect him.” He called Massie a “lightweight” who is “against what was so brilliantly achieved last night in Iran,” and said he would campaign for a different Republican to replace Massie in next year’s primary.

Jon Hoffman, a research fellow at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, warned of longer-term consequences from attacking Iran.

“War with Iran is not America First — it is America Last,” Hoffman said. “Striking the nuclear facilities was always a smoke screen designed to drag the U.S. into the war as an active participant. Trump says he wants ‘total victory.’ Yet there is no such victory to be had here — only disaster.”

But the hawkish wing of the party was ebullient over the Trump administration’s move Saturday.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., hailed the attack. “The mullahs’ misguided pursuit of nuclear weapons must be stopped,” he said in a statement.

And Cruz, fresh off his debate with Carlson, commended Trump.

“As long as Iran was able to access and conduct activities at Fordo, they could still rush to build a nuclear arsenal,” he said Saturday. “Tonight’s actions have gone far in foreclosing that possibility, and countering the apocalyptic threat posed by an Iranian nuclear arsenal.”