Donald Trump has said that Israel should “hit the nuclear first and worry about the rest later” in response to an Iranian missile attack on Tuesday.
The Republican presidential candidate made the remarks on Friday at a campaign event in North Carolina. He was responding to comments from President Joe Biden who, while referring to Israel, said, “They have a right to respond, but they should respond proportionally.” Asked whether this could include strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities the president responded: “The answer is no.”
Iran fired around 180 missiles at Israel on October 1, which it said was a response to the assassinations of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which took place last week and in July, respectively.
According to the BBC, some Israeli military bases were struck, along with restaurants and schools. The only fatality was a Palestinian living in the West Bank who was killed by falling missile debris.
Speaking on Friday, Trump appeared to paraphrase Biden’s remarks, commenting: “They asked him, ‘What do you think about Iran? Would you hit Iran?’ And he goes, ‘As long as they don’t hit the nuclear stuff.’
“That’s the thing you want to hit right? I said I think he’s got that wrong, isn’t that the one you’re supposed to hit? It’s the biggest risk we have, nuclear weapons, the power of nuclear weapons. When they asked him that question the answer should have been, ‘Hit the nuclear first and worry about the rest later.'”
According to the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog Iran has uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, close to that required to make a nuclear bomb. Tehran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, but critics believe the country’s ultimate goal is to construct nuclear weapons.
Newsweek contacted the White House press office and representatives of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris‘s 2024 presidential election campaigns for comment via email on Saturday outside of regular office hours.
Donald Trump on October 4, 2024, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Trump has called on Israel to “hit the nuclear [sites] first and worry about the rest later” in response to an Iranian missile attack earlier this week.
Win McNamee/GETTY
Iran previously attacked Israel with dozens of missiles and drones on April 13, which it said was in response to an Israeli attack in Damascus, Syria, which killed two Iranian generals.
Israel replied with a largely symbolic airstrike on an Iranian radar site near Isfahan in central Iran, but analysts widely expect the response to be on a much wider scale this time.
Monday marks the one-year anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel. The surprise assault by hundreds of Hamas gunmen left around 1,200 Israelis, predominantly civilians, dead. Several hundred more Israelis were taken to Gaza as hostages, where around 100 are still being held, though it is unclear how many remain alive.
In response Israel launched a massive air and ground campaign targeting the Gaza Strip, where more than 41,000 people have been killed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
