US President Donald Trump said that he could have pushed Israel to take active action against Iran. In his opinion, Tehran “was going to attack first”, so “if we didn't do it, they would have attacked first”.
He said this during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“Maybe I pushed them to do it. We were negotiating with these crazy people (Iran – ed.), and I thought they were going to attack first. If we hadn't, they would have attacked first. I was sure of that. We have great negotiators. And the way the negotiations were going, I think they were planning to attack. I didn't want to let that happen. So if that's the case, maybe I pushed Israel,” Trump said.
According to him, the US and Israel were ready for action, so they delivered a “powerful strike”, as a result of which most of the facilities in Iran were destroyed, and “their missile stockpile is rapidly decreasing.”
“It's amazing, but they hit countries that could be called neutral. They lived nearby for a long time, and suddenly these countries received missile strikes. This shows the level of evil that we are dealing with. They hit civilian objects – hotels, residential buildings. And we strike at the appropriate targets. Very powerfully. They no longer have air defense systems, no detection systems. They will be very hurt,” the head of the White House noted.
Trump added that the Iranian leadership “are bad people” who have probably killed 35,000 protesters in the past three weeks, adding that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has been removed. He also said that “today there was another blow to the new leadership – quite serious.”
“A lot of people are coming forward, asking for immunity, wanting to lay down their arms. We'll see what happens. We're continuing to act. Our military is the strongest in the world,” Trump added.
Reflecting on the worst-case scenario for developments in Iran, the American leader noted that, in his opinion, “the worst thing would be if after all this someone like the previous one comes to power.”
“We don't want that. After five years, you can understand that you didn't put the best person in office. I would like to see someone who will work for the people. We even told the protesters: 'Don't come out yet, it's dangerous now, bombs are falling,'” Trump said.
When asked by reporters if he was referring to anyone specific, the White House chief of staff replied: “Most of those we had in mind are dead, there may be a third wave, we'll see, we need to finish the military part first.”
Co-author: Maria Tril