Former President Donald Trump said on Friday that Israel should target Iran’s nuclear facilities, criticizing President Biden for saying he didn’t support such strikes.
“They asked him, what do you think about Iran, would you hit Iran? And he goes, ‘As long as they don’t hit the nuclear stuff.’ That’s the thing you want to hit, right?” Trump said at a campaign event in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
“I think he’s got that one wrong,” Trump added. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to hit? I mean, it’s the biggest risk we have, nuclear weapons.”
The former president also claimed that soon Iran will have nuclear weapons, but there’s no evidence Tehran is working to make a bomb, something that’s been acknowledged by US intelligence this year. Iran is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and all of its nuclear facilities are for civilian purposes.
In contrast, Israel is not a signatory to the NPT and has a secret nuclear weapons program that the US does not officially acknowledge. It’s estimated that Israel has somewhere between 90 and 300 nuclear warheads.
Trump’s comments about Iran’s nuclear sites come as the world is anticipating an Israeli attack on Iran in retaliation for the Iranian missile barrage that was fired at Israel last week, which was a response to several Israeli escalations in the region.
The US is closely coordinating with Israel on its plans to attack Iran and is expected to participate in some way, whether by sharing intelligence or more direct participation. Bide said the possibility of striking Iran’s oil infrastructure was being discussed, though he later cautioned against the idea. “If I were in their shoes, I’d be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields,” he said on Friday.
