President Donald Trump told reporters that the United States was aware of Israel’s coming attack on Iran before the strike occurred.
“Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table. We will see. There are several people in leadership that will not be coming back,” Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier.
Similarly, Trump told The New York Post that he “always knew the date” of the attack, explaining that he gave Iran 60 days to agree to a nuclear deal.
“I gave them 60 days and they didn’t meet it,” Trump told the outlet. “Today’s 61, you know. Today’s day 61.”
“They had a great chance to make a deal. Iran did,” Trump added. “They had a great chance to make a deal and they didn’t make it.”
During a phone call with The Wall Street Journal, Trump emphasized that the U.S. did not receive a “heads-up.”
“It was, we know what’s going on,” Trump told the publication, adding that Iran “should have made a deal and they still can make a deal while they have something left — they still can.”
In a statement on Truth Social, Trump reiterated that he “gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal.”
“I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done. I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it,” he wrote. “Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!”
Trump explained that while there “has already been great death and destruction,” there is “still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end.”
“Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!”
