Former President Donald Trump said Friday in Fayetteville, North Carolina, that Israel should destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons program in response to the second massive ballistic missile attack by the Iranian regime earlier this week.
Trump was responding to questions during a town hall, and drew a contrast between his policies and those of President Joe Biden, who said earlier this week that Israel should not hit Iran’s nuclear program or oil facilities.
Trump said:
I listened to Biden yesterday, you know, since I went under the wing, you know, I used to go under the wing of the aircraft. Nobody ever did that before. I did all of a sudden, Biden started — but he only takes like a half a question, usually can’t answer it. [Laughter] But they asked him, what do you think about, what do you think about Iran? Would you hit Iran? And he goes, “A long as they don’t hit the nuclear stuff.” That’s the thing you want to hit, right? I said, I think he’s got that one wrong. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to hit? I mean, it’s the most, it’s the biggest risk. We have nuclear weapons, the power of nuclear weapons, the power of weaponry. You know, I rebuilt the entire military jets, everything I built it, including nuclear and I hated to build the nuclear, but I got to know firsthand the power of that stuff, and I’ll tell you what, we have to be totally prepared. We have to be absolutely prepared. But when they asked him that question, the answer should have been hit the nuclear first and worry about the rest later. And that’s why they should, if they’re going to do it, if they’re going to do it, they’re going to do it, but we’ll find out whatever their plans are.
Trump also talked about his success in promoting peace through the Abraham Accords, and said that the U.S. could avoid war by being feared and respected again by America’s enemies and allies throughout the world.
Iran fired 200 missiles at Israel, 19 of which misfired and 23 of which hit Israeli air bases without causing significant damage. The other 158 missiles were intercepted by Israeli defense systems, as well as the U.S. and other allies.
