The US president also said that he acted to prevent Tehran from first launching an offensive
President Donald Trump boasted this Tuesday (3) of the broad damage caused in Iran by the joint attack by the United States and Israelwhich, according to him, is going well. “Practically everything was destroyed,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Washington. The Trump administration gave contradictory versions to justify the war.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Monday (2) that Washington he acted only after learning that his ally Israel would attack.
But Trump denied this version this Tuesday, assuring that he acted to prevent Tehran from launching an offensive first. “I think they were going to strike first and I didn’t want that to happen. So, in a way, I may have forced Israel’s hand,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
The president, who was also criticized for the apparent lack of a plan after the war in Iran, admitted that he did not know how the situation would evolve after the conflict. “I suppose the worst case scenario would be that we do all this and then someone as bad as the last one takes power, right?”, said Trump, referring to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the bombings on the first day of the conflict.
“We don’t want that to happen.“, he added.
Trump also called on protesters in Iran to wait before taking important steps until the situation stabilizes. “We said: don’t do it yet. If you’re going to go out to protest, don’t do it yet,” he added.
The president revealed that the bombings killed those Washington considered possible successors to Khameneiand that another “important” attack hit a meeting to choose new leadership.
“Most of the people we thought about died,” he said. “Now we have another group (of leaders). They may also be dead, according to reports.”
Trump said he was angry with the British Prime MinisterKeir Starmer, because London, which is not participating in the offensive against Iran, took days to authorize the use of its bases by the United States for operations against the Islamic republic. “I am not satisfied with the United Kingdom”, declared the president during the meeting with the German head of government.
“It took us three or four days to decide where we can land,” he added. “We are not dealing with Winston Churchill,” he said.
*AFP
