Trump Says Israel Was Safe When He Was in the White House

Former President Donald Trump said on Friday that Iran wouldn’t make threats against Israel when he was in office, criticizing President Joe Biden’s warnings of an impending attack as “pathetic.”

After Tehran threatened attacks in Israel, President Trump stated that America faces “a very dangerous period of time” which he attributed to the “grossly incompetent” leadership of President Biden.

The remarks came during a press conference at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) that covered topics domestic and foreign.

President Trump declined to disclose whether he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since Tehran began saber-rattling on April 10.

Following a strike on an Iranian consulate in Syria on April 1, Tehran supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said this week that Israel, which did not claim responsibility, “must be punished.”

President Biden, speaking to the threats on Friday, said that he expects Iran to attack Israel “sooner than later” and warned Tehran “don’t.”

Days earlier, in his initial response to the threats, he said U.S. support for Israel’s security was “ironclad.”

Asked on Friday whether he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump declined to disclose specifics but expressed disdain for the current state of affairs.

“I don’t want to say who I spoke to,” he said. “But for the president of our country to actually put out a warning that he thinks that we’re going to be attacked or they’re going to be attacked, that’s pretty pathetic.”

‘Very Dangerous Period of Time’

The presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee stressed, as he has before, that Israel faced no attacks by Iran while he was in the White House.

“They wouldn’t be attacking Israel if I were president, that I can tell you. And they never did. They wouldn’t be attacking,” President Trump said.

He asserted that during his presidency Iran lacked the financial resources to pose a significant threat because he made clear to countries like China that if they wanted to do business in the United States they could not buy Iranian oil.

“They [Iran] weren’t doing business. They were broke. They didn’t have money for Hamas. They didn’t have money for Hezbollah,” President Trump said.

“October 7th would have never happened,” he added. “It did happen and now it’s a disaster. And it’s only getting worse.”

However, President Trump suggested that Iran’s fortunes had changed. He also declared that U.S. foreign policy under President Biden was characterized by incompetence.

“With all that we’ve done—with all of the fighting, all of the death—look at what happened. How incompetent the whole thing is,” he said.

Referring back to the question, President Trump again said that he didn’t “want to say who I spoke to.”

“But,” he added, “I think it’s a very, very dangerous period. This is a very dangerous period of time in our nation. And a big reason that it’s dangerous [is] that we have a president that’s grossly incompetent.”

President Trump said earlier in the press conference that domestic issues like inflation or internal GOP squabbles over party leadership paled in comparison to the potential for conflicts in Europe and the Middle East to lead to a world war.

“You could end up in a world war between Russia and Ukraine and all of the chaos and that’s something that should have never happened, that would have never happened. What’s going on with Israel, October 7 and what’s going on with Israel could end up in a world war,” President Trump said.

The White House had earlier confirmed the credibility of a direct attack on Israel by Iran.

John Kirby, White House national security communications adviser, told reporters on a call that the potential threat was deemed “to be real, to be viable, and certainly credible.”

“We’re watching it as closely as we can,” Mr. Kirby said on Friday.

He said Washington officials were engaging closely with their Israeli counterparts to aid its defense.

Americans in Israel have received a warning issued by the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem stating that the security environment could change “quickly.” Personal travel for U.S. government employees and their families was restricted.

Meanwhile, Israel has promised reprisals if Iran attacks.

On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that any attack on Israel would be met with a strong defense followed by a “decisive offensive action against the territory of whoever attacks our territory,” The Times of Israel reported.

Emel Akan contributed to this report.