Trump Says Israel Received Copy of Iran Memo; On Netanyahu: "He Gets a Little Overexcited Sometimes"

President Donald Trump spoke this evening (Wednesday) about the emerging nuclear agreement with Iran, his relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israeli military activity in Lebanon. During his remarks, he revealed that Israel had received the text of the memorandum of understanding being worked out with Tehran.

Later in his remarks, Trump issued an unusual threat regarding the future of Iran’s nuclear program and warned: "Whoever sells Iran a nuclear weapon will be bombed with a nuclear weapon himself."

Trump also addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the relationship between them. In his words, "The people around Netanyahu are good people." About the prime minister himself, he said: "He gets a little overexcited sometimes, but he’s a very good person."

Trump criticized Israel’s conduct in Lebanon and argued that it would be possible to act with more restraint in the face of Hezbollah threats. "We have some disagreements in Lebanon," he said, adding: "I tell Netanyahu: 'You can be a little softer, friend. You don’t have to destroy a building every time there’s a Hezbollah operative inside it.'"

Trump added that Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, should be allowed to deal with Hezbollah, and took a jab at Netanyahu: "They can do a better job. Syria’s president won’t bring down buildings every time something happens; he’ll go in with precision."

Later, Trump returned to the issue of Iran’s nuclear program and compared the current move with the nuclear agreement signed during the term of former U.S. President Barack Obama. According to Trump, Netanyahu tried to prevent that agreement even then: "Netanyahu begged Barack Hussein Obama, the president, not to make the nuclear deal. He said it could be the end of Israel, and that would have happened if I hadn’t come along."

He added that the prime minister had even turned to the U.S. Congress in an effort to block the move: "Basically, he went to Congress and asked them for help, and he got no result. And they reached a terrible agreement. It was terrible for Israel, and that’s how it stayed." Trump ended those remarks by referring to his decision to cancel the agreement during his term in office: "Then I came in and I ended that deal. I had very little time left."

At the end of his statement, Trump moved to the question-and-answer portion. When asked about Iran’s ballistic missile issue, he replied: "What am I supposed to do? Should I let Saudi Arabia have missiles, but not Tehran? That’s just not how it works. Besides, missiles can hit a certain place — but they don’t blow up the planet."