By Rabia Iclal Turan
WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the attack by American and Israeli forces on Iran was necessary to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon, claiming that if Washington had not acted first, Iran could have struck Israel.
“If we didn’t hit within two weeks, they would have had a nuclear weapon,” Trump said during remarks at an event at the White House.
“And when crazy people have nuclear weapons, bad things happen,” he added.
Trump stressed that the US acted before Iran could target Israel.
“I think if we didn’t do it first, they would have done it to Israel and give us a shot, if that was possible,” he said.
He also reiterated his claim that the US strikes on Iran last June had severely degraded Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
“It was a complete obliteration of their nuclear potential, and that set them back very, very seriously,” he said.
“Their leadership is just rapidly going. Everybody that seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead,” he added.
Regional tensions have escalated since the US and Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran on Saturday, killing more than 900 people, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top military officials.
Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel as well as Gulf countries which are home to US military assets.