Trump claims he would have prevented the Hamas attack on Israel

When he was president, he made sure Tehran had no money to fund its proxies, the Republican candidate has told Joe Rogan

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has told podcaster Joe Rogan that if he had been in office, he would have prevented last year’s October 7 Hamas incursion into Israel.

During his much-hyped appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Saturday, Trump said that when he had been US president between 2017 and 2021, his approach was to “do things that… do not necessarily make me so popular… just do what is right.” According to the 78-year-old, one of the examples of that approach was his treatment of Iran.

In 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew Washington from the landmark Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which saw Iran giving up on its military nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions, and instead imposed a bevy of new restrictions on Tehran.

"Iran was broke. I told China if you buy [oil from Tehran] you cannot do business in the US under any circumstances. I was going… to go cold turkey with China. Some people think that would have been a good idea anyway,” the former president said.

He claimed that he had also warned “many” other countries that if they purchase even “one barrel of oil” from Iran they would be barred from the US market.

Because of this, “Iran was broke. They had no money for Hezbollah; they had no money for Hamas,” Trump said.

"We would have never had the attack on Israel at all” if he had been president, the Republican nominee insisted, referring to the October 7, 2023 strike.

During the Hamas incursion into Israel, approximately 1,200 people were killed and 250 others were taken hostage. The ongoing military operation which West Jerusalem launched in Gaza in response to the attack has left at least 42,847 people dead and 100,544 others wounded so far, according to the enclave’s health ministry.

Early on Saturday, October 26, the Israeli military announced that it had carried out strikes on Iran, hitting approximately 20 military sites in the country in retaliation for Tehran’s missile attack on Israel earlier this month. Iran has confirmed that the bombardment took place, but said it only resulted in “limited damage.”

READ MORE: Hamas says it won’t reveal identity of new leader

On October 1, Iran fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel in response to the killing of the Hamas and Hezbollah leaders as well as an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general.

https://www.rt.com/news/606512-trump-israel-hamas-iran/

Israel warned Iran ahead of latest strike – Axios

IDF warplanes launched multiple missiles early on Saturday, targeting a number of facilities in the Islamic Republic

Israel relayed a warning to Iran through several third parties ahead of its missile strike against the Islamic Republic on Saturday, Axios has reported, citing three anonymous sources. According to the media outlet, West Jerusalem indicated what type of targets it would attack, while cautioning Tehran against retaliating.

Early on Saturday, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari reported that Israeli forces were conducting “precise strikes on military targets” in Iran. The operation, reportedly codenamed ‘Days of Repentance,’ was being launched “in response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the State of Israel,” he clarified.

The “Israelis made it clear to the Iranians in advance what they are going to attack in general and what they are not going to attack,” Axios reported. The US media outlet asserted that this reflected an “attempt to limit the ongoing exchange of attacks between Israel and Iran and prevent a wider escalation.”

According to the report, Israel also warned the Islamic Republic against responding to its attack, threatening a more devastating strike if Tehran does retaliate.

Axios claimed that Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp was one of the channels used by Israel to convey its message to Iran. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, the diplomat confirmed that he had spoken “with the Iranian Foreign Minister about war and the heightened tensions in the region.” He added that he had urged Tehran to exercise restraint.

“IAF aircraft struck missile manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at the State of Israel over the last year,” according to an IDF statement. Moreover, the Jewish State claims to have struck the Islamic Republic’s surface-to-air missile capabilities.

Iran reopened its airspace at 9am local time (6am GMT), with the country’s National Air Defense Headquarters reporting that Israel’s “provocative” attack had resulted in “limited damage… in certain areas,” and that a more detailed assessment was still underway.

“The country’s integrated air defense system successfully intercepted and countered this aggressive action,” officials in Tehran asserted.

On October 1, Iran fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel in response to the killing of the Hamas and Hezbollah leaders as well as an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general.

https://www.rt.com/news/606514-axios-israel-warned-iran-ahead-strike/