Trump suggests Israel in no place to criticize Iran deal for not joining 2020 strike on Soleimani |
US President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is less justified in criticizing the memorandum that he signed this week with Iran because the Israeli premier purportedly pulled out of a joint operation to kill top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in 2020.
Trump made the suggestion during a press conference on the sidelines a G7 summit where he spent a considerable portion of his time railing against Israel — something he has made a habit of doing in recent days amid frustration with Israel’s prosecution of its war against Hezbollah, which has jeopardized US-Iran negotiations.
The president began by rehashing his criticism of Israel for purportedly pulling out of a joint operation with the US in 2020 to kill Soleimani, who was the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force.
Trump has told this story repeatedly in the past, but had largely stopped after he became the GOP presidential nominee in 2024, at which point his relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu improved substantially.
“They’ve been wonderful to me, Israel, but they didn’t want to do that attack,” Trump said.
“They were all set the night before the attack. Then [Israel told] me they didn’t want to do it,” Trump added, claiming that he decided to go ahead with the operation alone.
He later hit out at critics who he said were calling on him to continue bombing Iran, rather than sign an agreement to end the war.
“For all of those so-called geniuses who want to show me how smart they are, ask them why didn’t they blow up General Solemeini,” Trump said, almost certainly referring to Israel.
Trump then repeated his criticism of Netanyahu over Israeli strikes on Hezbollah.
“Bibi Netanyahu happens to be a good man, but he gets a little excited sometimes,” Trump said, while still calling him an “amazing prime minister.”
“We have a little dispute over Lebanon. I say, ‘You can do a little softer touch, Bibi. You don’t have to knock down a building every time somebody walks into it that’s from Hezbollah,’” Trump said.
“But it’s been an amazing partnership. [Netanyahu] will say [the US is] the big........