Former President Donald Trump warned during a campaign event Tuesday that the US is “very close to a global catastrophe” and could be sleepwalking into “World War III,” just hours after Iran fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel.
“Iran launched 181 ballistic missiles at Israel,” Trump announced to rallygoers in Waunakee, Wis., during an afternoon event at a manufacturing facility with former Gov. Scott Walker.
Most of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s Arrow and David’s Sling missile defense systems, with assistance from US destroyers and Jordanian interceptors in the region, though some damage and casualties were reported.
“I’ve been talking about World War III for a long time, and I don’t want to make predictions, because the predictions always come true,” said Trump, 78. “But they are very close to global catastrophe.”
“The two incompetent people running our country,” Trump added, referring to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, “are leading us to the brink of World War III, a war like no other. This is what the policies of weakness and appeasement have brought to the world.”
“We have a non-existent president and a non-existent vice president who should be in charge, but nobody knows what’s going on,” he said with exasperation.
US intelligence officials have said it is no secret Iran would prefer Harris, 59, as the victor of the Nov. 5 election over Trump, whose administration imposed sanctions and withdrew from a nuclear deal with the Tehran regime sealed in 2015 by the Obama administration.
“When I was president, Iran was in total check,” Trump said Tuesday. “The Iranians were starved for cash. Nobody was buying their oil.”
“But ever since, Iran has been exporting terror all over the world, and it’s been just unraveling. The whole Middle East has been unraveling,” he added.
The 45th president further blamed his successors for lifting sanctions that handed as much as $10 billion to Tehran, ostensibly for electricity needs — though critics have argued it allowed the regime to funnel the fungible money to terrorist proxies.
During the Biden administration, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also oversaw a hacking operation that targeted former Trump administration officials and stole information about the Republican nominee’s debate preparations that was later leaked to the Biden-Harris campaign.
“I got targeted, by a lot, Iran and targeted, we know for a fact, by probably others,” Trump said later in reference to recent attempts made on his life as well as a foiled assassination plot by a suspected Iranian agent.
“But they only target consequential presidents — they don’t target Joe on the beach as he sleeps,” Trump joked.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan described the attack by Iran against Israel as “defeated and ineffective.”
“We are proud of the actions that we’ve taken alongside Israel to protect and defend Israel,” Sullivan said. “We have made clear that there will be consequences — severe consequences — for this attack, and we will work with Israel to make that the case.”
Sullivan added that the missiles lobbed at the Jewish state while citizens took to bunkers were a “significant escalation by Iran,” but did not elaborate on what consequences the administration was mulling.
The Pentagon confirmed that the American destroyers USS Cole and USS Bulkeley had helped Israel intercept roughly a dozen Iranian missiles. Fighter jets have also been deployed to the region.
“This fire will have consequences,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari vowed after the attack. “We have plans, and we will act in the time and place that we choose.”
The IRGC claimed its air assault was in retaliation to a airstrike last week that eliminated Hezbollah’s top officials in Lebanon, including its chief, Hassan Nasrallah.
