President Donald Trump gave Israel his blessing on Monday to carry out strikes against Iran in certain scenarios.
Trump told reporters that strikes would be warranted if Iran continued missile development or rapidly pursued nuclear weapons.
“If they were to continue with the missiles, yes, the nuclear, fast. One would be yes, absolutely, the other, we’ll do it immediately,” he said.
Trump’s remarks came ahead of a meeting he held with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida on Monday.
In a press conference alongside Netanyahu, Trump expressed concern over reports that Iran is building up their nuclear and missile program after the United States carried out strikes targeting the country’s nuclear facilities over the summer. Trump suggested the U.S. would not hesitate to carry out another round of strikes and “knock the hell out of them” if evidence confirms Iran is rebuilding the program.
“I hope Iran is not trying to build up, as I’ve been reading, that they’re building up weapons and other things, and if they are, they’re not using the sites that we obliterated, but they’re using possibly different sites,” Trump said. “If they are, we’re going to have no choice but very quickly to eradicate that buildup.”
The Trump-Netanyahu meeting at Mar-a-Lago centered on Washington’s efforts to move the Gaza ceasefire into its second phase. The next phase offers amnesty for Hamas members who had controlled the region but also calls for the terrorist group to disarm and cede power to a multinational temporary peace force that functions as a transitional government in Gaza.
Trump on Monday said Hamas will be given “a very short period of time to disarm” or “there will be hell to pay.”
“If they don’t disarm, as they agreed to do, they agreed to it, then there will be hell to pay for them. And we don’t want that. We’re not looking for that. But they have to disarm within a fairly short period of time,” he said.
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Netanyahu described the Florida summit as a “very, very productive meeting.” Trump will receive the Israel Prize, the most prestigious award the country offers, for his work on peace negotiations in Gaza, the Israeli leader added in comments to the press.
“We’ve never awarded it to a non-Israeli,” Netanyahu said. “And we’re going to award it this year to President Trump.”
