President of United States (US) Donald Trump has stated that Israel would cease to exist if Iran acquired a nuclear weapon, claiming his presidency prevented the total destruction of the Middle East.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said Tehran would use nuclear capabilities against regional targets, Europe, and the US.
“If they had a nuclear weapon, Israel would be gone. If I weren’t President, Israel would be gone. There would be no Israel. And there would probably be no Middle East,” Trump said.
Trump pointed to recent military actions as proof of Tehran’s intentions, stating that Iranian forces launched strikes against neighboring nations that had maintained neutral positions with the country.
“The way you know that is people that were sort of neutral, got along with them for years, as soon as the shooting started, they started aiming at Saudi Arabia, at Qatar, at UAE, at Bahrain, at Kuwait,” Trump said.
He added, “That means that if they would have had a nuclear weapon, they would have fired it. So I think the Middle East would have essentially been gone, but Israel definitely would have been gone. And I guess we would be next, or Europe or someplace.”
Calling Iran the “Number one leading state sponsor of terror,” Trump emphasised that the nation cannot obtain nuclear capability.
“Nuclear weapon is massive destruction. You know, take what you see and multiply it times a hundred,” Trump stated.
Addressing critics of his administration’s policy, Trump defended US economic sanctions and military action. “The blockade has been unbelievable. The financial hits that we’re giving them, we’re hitting them very hard,” Trump claimed.
The remarks reflect a recurring assertion by Trump regarding his foreign policy stance on Iran. In a separate appearance on a podcast hosted by Glenn Beck, Trump criticized the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, calling it one of the most dangerous deals in history and arguing that the agreement allowed Tehran a pathway to nuclear capabilities.
“If Donald Trump had not been president, Israel would not exist today… and that’s guaranteed,” Trump stated during that interview, arguing that Iran would have deployed nuclear weapons against Israel if the deal remained active. Trump previously expressed similar claims during the G7 summit in France, routinely linking the survival of Israel to decisions made throughout his administration.
