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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States inflicted wide damage on Iran during recent U.S.-Israel strikes.
“Just about everything’s been knocked out,” he said during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, answering questions from reporters.
Trump denied that Israel compelled his administration to take action, claiming that he did so in order to avert a possible Iranian attack.
“Based on the way the negotiation was going, I think they (Iran) were going to attack first. And I didn’t want that to happen,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
“So, if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand.”
Since the tension started, Trump’s administration has offered contradictory justifications for going to war, but on Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the United States only went to war after learning that ally Israel was about to launch an attack.
Trump also stated uncertainty over the post-strike situation.
“I guess the worst case would be we do this, and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person, right?” he said, referring to the late Supreme Leader of Iran.
“That could happen. We don’t want that to happen.”
Speaking to Iranian rallies, Trump advised restraint, saying, “We’ve said, don’t do it yet. If you’re going to go out and protest, don’t do it yet.”
He also said that two waves of US-Israeli attacks on Iran had killed figures he had eyed as potential new leaders.
The US president added that a meeting to select the new leadership had been the target of a “substantial” new attack.
“Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” he said.
“Now we have another group. They may be dead also, based on reports.”
