US President Donald Trump addressed the disgraceful agreement with Iran this evening (Wednesday) and said that he had given Israel a copy of the memorandum of understanding. He also addressed the relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
""Bibi is a great man, he gets emotional from time to time, but he is a very good partner. We have a conflict over Lebanon. I told him to be more gentle with Lebanon and not to tear down a building with a Hezbollah man inside it. We have a good partnership, but he is the small part of the partnership and we are the ones who decide.".
""The people around Netanyahu are good people. He gets a little excited sometimes, but he's a very good partner.".
He issued an unusual threat: "Anyone who sells nuclear weapons to Iran will be bombed with a nuclear device themselves.".
On the nuclear agreement being formed with Iran, he said: "This will allow Iran to survive. We are working in parallel with the Gulf states to deal with non-nuclear issues, such as conventional ballistic missiles. They need to have some ballistic missiles, because others do.".
"There are people around me who say they shouldn't have even one missile. I don't think they're very smart. I asked: What exactly are you suggesting? That Saudi Arabia can have missiles and Iran can't? It just doesn't work that way. Missiles can maybe hit one target, but they can't destroy the world.".
He continued and explained: "We dropped hundreds of missiles on them on the first night alone, some even by mistake. But it's impossible for some to have missiles and others not. They have fewer than other countries. We destroyed 84-85% of their missiles, the rest are underground.".
Trump defended his decision to negotiate with Iran and stop military action against it. "Not a single country asked us to keep bombing Iran. Only fools say that.".
Regarding Israel's activities in Lebanon, he said: "We have some disagreements in Lebanon. I say to Netanyahu: 'You can be a little softer, friend. You don't have to destroy a building every time there's a Hezbollah man inside it.'" He chided Israel: "The president of Syria won't destroy buildings every time something happens, he'll go in with precision, they can do a better job.".
The president also said that the assassination of Ali Khamenei has led to better leadership in Iran. "Iran's new leaders are smart and less extremist. They are really good and love their country. It was a regime change and I think they will behave differently than the previous regime.".
On the nuclear issue, Trump said that his country intends to "get" Iran's enriched uranium. "It doesn't have much value, but we would like to get it psychologically. We have cameras from space that see everything that happens there. We can see from space the ID badge of the people who go in there, someone called 'Mohammed something' - in 50%, that's what they're called in some cases.".
On President Barack Obama's nuclear deal: "Netanyahu begged Barack Hussein Obama, the president, not to make the nuclear deal. He said it could be the end of Israel, and it would have happened if I hadn't come. And Obama didn't listen to him. He actually went to Congress and asked them for help, and he didn't get any results. And they reached a terrible deal. It was terrible for Israel, and that's how it stayed. And then I came and I finished this deal, I had very little time left.".
On Iran's finances: "The US has taken a lot of Iran's money. At some point we will have to return it, or we will risk countries not wanting to invest in dollars.".
Political reporter Amit Segal responded: "Another evening of crazy statements by Trump.
""After months of explaining why Iran can't have missiles, he's explaining why as long as other countries have them, they should have them too.".
""I believe that Julani should deal with Hezbollah because, unlike Israel, he doesn't knock down buildings but deals with them in a targeted manner.".
""There is no humane treatment of ISIS.".
