President Donald Trump dismissed claims that Israel compelled the United States to enter the conflict with Iran, suggesting instead that he may have been the one urging action.

Speaking to reporters, Trump was asked whether Israel had “forced” his decision to confront Tehran militarily. He rejected the premise and indicated the opposite dynamic may have been at play.

“I might have forced their hand.”

Trump said his administration had been engaged in talks with Iranian officials prior to the outbreak of hostilities, but he concluded that diplomacy was unlikely to prevent aggression from Tehran.

“We were having negotiations with these lunatics,” Trump stated in reference to the Ayatollah’s regime in Iran. “It was my opinion that they were going to attack first. If we didn’t do it, they were going to attack.”

He said his assessment was shaped by the tone and direction of the discussions, which led him to believe an attack was imminent. According to Trump, he was convinced that Iran was preparing strikes not only against Israel but also against other countries in the region.

He reiterated that if any country had been influenced to act, it may have been Israel responding to American resolve.

“If anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand, but Israel was ready and we were ready” Trump said.

Trump characterized the military campaign as successful, asserting that Iran’s capabilities were being systematically degraded.

The President stated that the war is going well, as “virtually everything they have is being knocked out now.” He accused Iran of “hitting countries that were neutral … and now those countries are all fighting against them.”

He said Iran’s actions demonstrate the nature of the threat posed by its leadership.

Trump asserted that this “shows the level of evil that we’re dealing with. They’ll hit people that were at least somewhat friendly, also hitting only civilian places, hotels and apartment buildings.”

When asked to outline the most troubling potential outcome of the conflict, Trump said the gravest possibility would be a leadership change in Iran that fails to alter the regime’s direction.

When asked what the “worst-case scenario” his administration envisions for Iran, he answered that the worst-case scenario would be for the next leader of Iran to be just as bad as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

{Matzav.com}