Donald Trump believes that if he were president, Iran would never have unleashed missile attacks on Israel and that the world would not be “on the brink of World War III.”
The former president took to his Truth Social app on Tuesday to denounce the attack on Israel, which was being hit by an inferno of approximately 180 Iranian missiles.
The Jewish nation’s conflict with the Iran-backed, Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah has become increasingly dangerous in recent weeks as the two have traded attacks.
To escalate the fighting, Iranian rockets set the night sky on fire and crashed into buildings as aerial sirens sounded across the country just hours after the White House warned that an attack was “imminent.”
“Look at the missiles flying right now in the Middle East, look at what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine, look at the inflation destroying the world,” Trump’s post began.
‘None of this happened while I was president!’
Donald Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social app that the attacks on Israel and Ukraine would not have happened if he were president.
“When I was president, Iran was in total control,” Trump explained in an official campaign statement. “They were cash-starved, completely content and desperate for a deal. Kamala flooded them with American money and since then they have been exporting terror everywhere and dismantling the Middle East.
He continued: “Under ‘President Trump,’ we had no war in the Middle East, no war in Europe, no harmony in Asia, no inflation, no catastrophe in Afghanistan.”
“Now, war or the threat of war is raging everywhere, and the two incompetents who run this country are bringing us to the brink of World War III.”
Footage shows Israel’s Iron Dome defense system and other anti-missile defensive capabilities shooting down some of the incoming missiles and sending burning fragments to the ground as Americans were urged to take shelter in bomb shelters.
The missiles fell on Tel Aviv in two large salvos approximately 15 minutes apart.
Biden issued a statement to dissuade Iran from taking further action.
“The United States stands ready to help Israel defend itself against these attacks and protect American personnel in the region,” the president said.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said during a news conference that Iran’s attack was “defeated” and was unsuccessful, and that Israel, along with U.S. forces, was able to cushion the results of the attack.
Sullivan called it a “significant escalation” by Iran and that the White House will discuss what are “appropriate next steps.”
He also revealed that American ships helped quell the Iranian bombardment.
“Iran launched almost 200 ballistic missiles at targets in Israel, you know, the US military coordinated closely with the Israeli defense forces to help defend Israel against this attack.”
“US naval destroyers joined Israeli air defense units in firing interceptors to shoot down incoming missiles,” he added.
President Biden recently authorized the sending of additional troops to the Middle East.
This image shows projectiles intercepted by Israel near the northern town of Baqa al-Gharbiya on October 1, 2024. Air raid sirens sounded in central Israel on October 1, the military said, a day after the army to launch ground operations in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah positions. ‘Sirens sounded in central Israel,’ the military said, without providing details of the affected areas
People take shelter on the side of a road as a siren sounds warning of incoming missiles fired from Iran on a highway in Shoresh, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in Israel, Tuesday, October 1, 2024.
Videos posted online show frantic scenes in which residents run towards bomb shelters and volleys of explosives can be heard imploding in the distance.
Trump’s campaign statement comes just after Iran launched a barrage of dozens of missiles at Israel, an act so terrible that it requires the United States to counterattack, as Republican Party legislators have said.
South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has called on President Joe Biden to “hit and hit hard” Iran’s oil refining capabilities in response to its ballistic missile attack on Israel on Tuesday.
‘This is a moment of choice for the free world regarding Iran. “The Ayatollah and the Iranian regime are religious Nazis who want to destroy the State of Israel: their words, not mine,” he began his statement.
“This missile attack on Israel should be the breaking point and I urge the Biden Administration to coordinate an overwhelming response with Israel, starting with Iran’s ability to refine oil.”
“These oil refineries need to be hit hard because that is the source of money for the regime to perpetrate its terror,” Graham continued.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the attack was in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon that killed several Hezbollah leaders.
South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham floated the idea that Joe Biden should hit Iran and hit it hard at its oil refineries.
“Israel should not be prevented from mounting a robust response by the United States government,” said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Iranian state television claimed that 80% of its missiles fired at Israel hit their targets. It is not clear exactly what the objectives were.
The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker of Alabama, said Iran’s Supreme Leader must be “removed” in response to the attack on Israel.
“Iran and its terrorist proxies – Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis – will never stop their campaign to wipe Israel off the map,” Wicker wrote. “The Ayatollah’s regime must be eliminated.”
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said he favors a decisive and “disproportionate” response from Israel to teach Iran a lesson.
“I urge the reimposition of a maximum pressure campaign against Iran and fully support Israel’s right to respond disproportionately to stop this threat,” he wrote in a statement.
Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets, seen from Ashkelon, Israel
Rubio’s fellow Florida senator, Rick Scott, wrote Tuesday: “The United States must firmly support Israel, give it everything it needs to respond, and make clear that Iran will pay a high price for these attacks.”
And Sunshine State Gov. Ron DeSantis said the United States should not hinder the Jewish nation’s response.
“Israel should not be prevented from mounting a strong response by the United States government,” DeSantis said.
A Democrat has also said that escalating action against Iran is on the table.
“Iran has made a mistake: it has put its nuclear facilities on the board as easy targets,” posted Florida Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz.