Trump encourages Israel to 'hit' Iran's nuclear facilities as Biden govt scrambles to prevent catastrophe

In yet another provocative remark, former US President Donald Trump encouraged Israel to target Iran’s nuclear facilities in a retaliatory attack. The Republican presidential nominee said on Friday that he believes Israel should strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, calling it a “just” response to the recent missile barrage hurled by Tehran in the Israeli territory.

Trump’s comments came while he was addressing a charged-up gathering in North Carolina. He referred to a question posed to US President Joe Biden about the possibility of Israel targeting Iranian facilities. “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?” Trump told a town hall-style event in Fayetteville, near a major US military base.

On Wednesday, Biden was asked if he would support any such strikes, and the POTUS gave a simple response to the question. “The answer is no.” “I think he’s got that one wrong,” Trump said Friday, in response to a participant’s question about the issue.

“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to hit? I mean, it’s the biggest risk we have, nuclear weapons. When they asked him that question, the answer should have been, hit the nuclear first, and worry about the rest later,” he added. “If they’re going to do it, they’re going to do it. But we’ll find out whatever their plans are.”

US scrambles to prevent a catastrophe

Amid the chaos, top officials from the US State Department told CNN that Israel has not given the Biden administration any sort of assurance that it won’t target Iran’s nuclear facilities. The official added that it is “really hard to tell” if Israel will use the anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attacks to retaliate.

“We hope and expect to see some wisdom as well as strength, but as you guys know, no guarantees,” the official said when asked by CNN if Israel has assured the US that Iran’s nuclear sites are off the table. Biden has constantly maintained that Washington won’t support Israel in this move. “If I were in their shoes, I’d be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields,” Biden said at a press briefing Friday.

Biden insisted that Israel was “not going to make a decision immediately.” But the department is speculating on chances that Israel would conduct the attack on October 7, to mark the first year anniversary of Hamas’s surprise attack within the Jewish nation. “I think in some ways they would want to avoid the seventh, so in my estimation, if there is anything it would likely be before or after,” the State Department official explained.

The US is constantly in touch with Israel 

During the Friday press briefing, Biden assured that the United States officials are in touch with their Israeli counterparts “12 hours a day.”  “We’ll be discussing with the Israelis what they’re going to do,” the President said on Wednesday, adding that all G7 members agree Israel has “a right to respond, but they should respond in proportion.”

On the same day, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said that there are “major efforts on both sides to keep lines of communication open and to make sure that perspectives are understood.” “There have been moments of surprise, I don’t think that’s a secret, over the course of the last couple of months,” he acknowledged.

“With respect to the Iranian attack on Israel, it is not just Israel that is thinking about its response options; it is also the United States,” Campbell explained while attending an event at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Our dominant message is, ‘let’s take great care in whatever we do with respect to Iran,’” he added.

With inputs from agencies.