Even as President-elect Donald Trump nominates several foreign policy hawks to leading roles in his Cabinet, some conservative pro-Israel activists are raising concerns that one potential candidate for a senior national security job could create ideological friction in the incoming administration, particularly on Iran and the broader Middle East.

Elbridge Colby, who served as a deputy assistant secretary of defense in Trump’s first administration, has recently appeared on shortlists for key national security posts as the president-elect prepares for his second term.

But Colby’s dovish views on Iran and its nuclear ambitions, which he sees as a less urgent threat to American interests than China, have long been a source of contention within Republican foreign policy circles. The former Trump official — now a partner at the Marathon Initiative, a think-tank he co-founded — has notably opposed direct military action against Iran, while arguing that containing a nuclear Iran “is an eminently plausible and practical objective.”

His assessment of Iran was reportedly why Colby’s name was removed from consideration as a foreign policy director for Jeb Bush’s fledgling presidential campaign in 2015 — as he faced internal objections that his extensive public writings on the issue could sow tension with hawkish Republicans backing the former Florida governor. 

A former official in the first Trump administration, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the ongoing transition, claimed that Colby’s “views are almost indistinguishable from” former President Barack Obama “on a range of issues, most notably Iran.”

“I don’t know how you put a man who says he’s OK with Iran having a nuclear weapon in charge of any serious defense or national security job,” the former official said, “when Iran is trying to kill Trump and is on the verge of a weapon.”

While Colby helped author Trump’s 2018 national defense strategy and is admired by the MAGA wing of the Republican Party, he has staked out positions that could run contrary to the president-elect as he indicates that his next administration will renew its maximum pressure campaign against Iran. Trump’s early nominations, meanwhile, also suggest that he intends to prioritize the Middle East as he did in his first term.

Colby, who after leaving the Trump administration in 2018 worked for WestExec Advisors, a consulting firm co-founded by Secretary of State Tony Blinken, has sought to bridge the ideological divide between the isolationist and interventionist blocs of the GOP. 

He has frequently advocated in favor of marshaling defense resources to prepare for what he has called “the looming threat from China” — at the expense of involvement in “peripheral conflicts” including wars in Ukraine as well as the Middle East, a region that he has described as “relatively unimportant” from a geopolitical standpoint.

Colby, who is in his mid-40s and goes by Bridge, has supported a withdrawal of U.S. military forces in the Persian Gulf that recently helped defend Israel from Iranian attacks, arguing that the U.S. can “more efficiently” deter Iran “by bolstering the military capabilities of its partners in the region.” 

“If Iran’s provocations need to be answered, Washington must do so in a way that limits military involvement in the Middle East,” he wrote in a 2019 article. “If this means doing less than we might like against Iran, so be it.”

Colby, a close ally of Tucker Carlson, echoed the former Fox News host in expressing opposition to tougher policies against Iran, just a month before Trump approved the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the powerful head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

More recently, Colby has questioned the Biden administration’s efforts to counter the Houthis, the increasingly aggressive Iran-backed proxy group in Yemen. Last month, he also raised new objections to “launching a U.S. strike campaign against Iran,” as some of Trump’s picks for top Cabinet posts have suggested.

Shortly before Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks, Colby penned an opinion piece calling for a “reset” on the U.S.-Israel relationship in order to confront Beijing. 

“Instead of a bear hug of Israel, Washington should defer more to Israel’s judgment about how best to manage its security challenges,” Colby wrote in July 2023. “America should be ready to provide potent material and political support to Israel,” he added. “But at the same time, Israel should understand that the United States, which cannot afford to be enmeshed in another Middle Eastern war, will take a supporting role.”

Harry Kazianis, the senior director of national security affairs at the Center for the National Interest, described Colby as a “prioritizer” who “looks at all of the problems the U.S. had globally and what items should get the most and least attention.”

“He believes America’s resources are finite and must be only used when needed,” Kazianis explained. With regard to the Middle East and Israel, “Colby would support an Israel that can defend itself and gets U.S. military hardware and likely support the full and total destruction of Hamas and Hezbollah — avoiding civilian casualties where possible,” he added. “He would not, however, support an operation to kill Iran’s top leadership or strikes on its nuclear program that could escalate into a wider war. Colby sees China as the greatest threat to America — everything else is secondary.”

Though Colby is largely aligned with Trump and the broader GOP on confronting China, his arguments on Iran and the Middle East could cause tension if he joins the next administration — potentially as a senior Pentagon official, as reports have indicated.

In recent days, Trump has picked a number of Iran hawks for top foreign policy posts, including Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), who will be the national security advisor, and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), nominated as ambassador to the United Nations. The president-elect named John Ratcliffe, a former director of national intelligence in Trump’s first term who has favored joint U.S.-Israel action against Iran, to lead the CIA. 

Trump’s surprise choice on Tuesday for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and military veteran, has urged the president-elect to bomb Iran. The president-elect is also expected to choose Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who is among the fiercest Iran critics in the upper chamber, as secretary of state — though he has not made an official announcement.

Colby, whose grandfather led the CIA, has cheered several of Trump’s picks in interviews and social media posts, praising Waltz, Stefanik, Ratcliffe and Hegseth, under whom he could serve in the Defense Department. “Given the parlous and unready state of our military, the atrophied defense industrial base, and war in multiple theaters, I’d say decisive change is just what we need!” he said of Hegseth in particular, rejecting accusations the conservative commentator is unqualified for the role.

Notably, Colby appears to have avoided mentioning Rubio on social media, as the senator has reportedly faced pushback from MAGA loyalists, who have cast doubt on his commitment to Trump’s America First agenda. Meanwhile, Brian Hook, a special envoy for Iran in the first Trump administration, is expected to lead the transition team at the State Department.

Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, said the team Trump is assembling to shape national security and foreign policy issues is “very pro-Israel,” including “longtime advocates of maximum pressure on Iran” as well as “the need to rebuild American deterrence in the Middle East.”

Having followed Colby’s work, he added, “I sense there are common linkages in the ways in which he would approach U.S. policy on Israel with the other figures who the president-elect has named to his administration.”

“There may be differences, however, over recognition that the United States is a global power with global interests and the level of risk the U.S. is prepared to assume outside Asia,” Brodsky said. “Decisive applications of American force in the Middle East like targeted airstrikes to restore deterrence do not necessarily mean a large-scale war will break out. Israel has done this successfully vis-a-vis Iran twice now, and the incoming Trump administration should look to those experiences for guidance.”

In an email to Jewish Insider on Tuesday, Colby declined to comment on his plans, but shared a link to a recent interview on Fox News — one of several media hits in which he has touted Trump’s policies in the Middle East amid his expected return to government.

Trump’s team also declined to comment on Colby. “President-elect Trump is making decisions on who will serve in his second administration,” Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the transition, told JI on Tuesday. “Those decisions will be announced when they are made.”

With the transition moving at a rapid clip, pressure has recently been mounting among Colby’s MAGA backers, including Carlson and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have raised hopes that he will join the Trump administration. 

The former defense official, one of several contributors to Project 2025 — the Heritage Foundation’s controversial blueprint for a second Trump term — is also an ally of Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, who has said it is in Americans’ interest to avoid a war with Iran and has cited Colby as an influence. 

One prominent Republican foreign policy expert, who voiced criticism of Colby’s foreign policy views, speculated that he might “settle” for a position with Vance if he is not invited to rejoin the Pentagon next term.