THE HAGUE: US President Donald Trump while addressing the media on the sidelines of the NATO summit in the Netherlands, has praised the outcome of the conference and defending his administration’s recent military actions in the Middle East.
Describing the NATO summit as “very wonderful,” Trump said he had productive engagements with allied leaders and lauded the alliance for increasing collective defense spending. “Our allies have increased their defense budgets by $700 billion. They should continue investing more in military equipment,” Trump said.
The US president claimed credit for helping end the 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel, calling the ceasefire a “huge success.” He said both nations were “tired and exhausted” and insisted that a return to war was unlikely — though not impossible.
“The way I look at it they fought, the war is done,” he said, adding that Israel and Iran were “tired”, but the conflict between the two countries could start again.
“I dealt with both, and they’re both tired, exhausted … and can it start again? I guess someday it can. It could maybe start soon,”
Trump repeatedly emphasized the scale and precision of the US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, specifically the Fordow site, which he claimed was “obliterated”. He reprimanded a reporter who cited a preliminary US intelligence report suggesting that the strikes had only delayed Iran’s nuclear program by a few weeks.
He said he had personally spoken to the pilots involved in the operation, who assured him that the attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites were “perfect”. “You should be proud of those pilots, and you shouldn’t be trying to demean them,” he told reporters.
Addressing scepticism over the effectiveness of the strikes, Trump dismissed a preliminary US intelligence assessment that said the attacks had only set back Iran’s nuclear programme by a few months. “The New York Times published very wrong news,” he said. “The site was completely destroyed, and even Iran has admitted their facilities were damaged.”
Trump also warned Iran against restarting its nuclear activities, adding, “They’ve been given a big advantage in backing off. I don’t think they’ll return to the nuclear issue again.”
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