Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump blamed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for the escalating tensions in the Middle East. At a campaign rally in Wisconsin, he slammed the two for presenting a weak leadership on the world stage.
“A short time ago, Iran launched 181 ballistic missiles at Israel… I’ve been talking about World War III for a long time, and I don’t want to make predictions because the predictions always come true. We’re not going to make [predictions]… but they are very close to global catastrophe,” Trump said.
“We have a non-existent president and a non-existent vice president who should be in charge, but nobody knows what’s going on.”
“That’s why Israel was under attack just a little while ago. Because they don’t respect our country anymore. The so-called enemy doesn’t respect our country any longer,” Trump said.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that Iran had launched several missiles towards the country. “A short while ago, missiles were launched from Iran towards the State of Israel,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
Iran Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) later said that they had targeted “three military bases” near Tel Aviv. It added that the attack was in retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon, late last week, and the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
IRGC warned in a statement released by the Iranian state media that if Israel responds to the missile barrage, “it will face crushing attacks.”
Trump also said that Biden and Harris were responsible for making Iran extremely rich. “They have $300 billion now. They’re rich. I mean, they pay 6 billion every time they have somebody that was kidnapped, it’s always $6 billion,” Trump said.
“Iran was on the verge of bankruptcy. They had no money left. They had no money for Hamas. They had no money for Hezbollah. The people they’re fighting now, they would have been willing to make any deal. You could have made any deal. But Kamala flooded them with American cash and everything. Now, I mean, they’re flooding them with cash. It’s honestly not even believable,” Trump continued.
At a separate rally in Milwaukee, Trump was asked about the two assassination attempts on his life and how would he react in the current situation. Trump stated that the US president needs to make a statement.
“Last week you had suggested that if Iran tried to attack you, that you would blow the country to smithereens. How would you handle Iran right now without US forces? Would you use U.S. force?” Trump was asked.
“You know, I wouldn’t be around if they did that. But let’s assume I’m not around, the President of the United States should blow that country to smithereens, because you can’t do that,”
“And the president should make a statement to that effect,” he added.
He stated that during his time at the White House, Iran wasn’t in a position to sponsor terrorism. He mentioned that the Biden administration issued a sanctions waiver in September 2023 after which $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds were transferred from South Korea to Qatar as part of a deal to free five detained Americans in Iran.