During a campaign event on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump warned that the U.S. is “very close to a global catastrophe” and may be on the verge of “World War III,” just hours after Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel.
“Iran launched 181 ballistic missiles at Israel,” Trump announced to rally attendees in Waunakee, Wisconsin, during an afternoon event at a manufacturing facility alongside former Gov. Scott Walker.
Although Israel’s Arrow and David’s Sling missile defense systems, supported by U.S. destroyers and Jordanian interceptors, intercepted most of the missiles, 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,” Trump, 78, said. “But they are very close to global catastrophe.”
Trump criticized President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, referring to them as “the two incompetent people running our country,” and blamed them for bringing the U.S. “to the brink of World War III, a war like no other.”
“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, expressing frustration.
U.S. intelligence officials have previously stated that Iran would likely prefer Harris as the winner of the upcoming Nov. 5 election, due to Trump’s history of imposing sanctions and withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
“When I was president, Iran was in total check,” Trump noted. “The Iranians were starved for cash. Nobody was buying their oil.” He then criticized the current administration for lifting sanctions, which he claimed gave Iran access to up to $10 billion, allegedly used to support terrorist activities.
Trump also touched on recent assassination attempts against him, saying, “I got targeted, by a lot, Iran and targeted, we know for a fact, by probably others.” He then joked, “But they only target consequential presidents — they don’t target Joe on the beach as he sleeps.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan described Iran’s missile strike on Israel as “defeated and ineffective,” adding that the U.S. and Israel would ensure there are “severe consequences” for the attack.
The Pentagon confirmed that U.S. destroyers USS Cole and USS Bulkeley assisted Israel in intercepting about a dozen Iranian missiles, and fighter jets have also been deployed to the region.
Following the attack, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari vowed, “This fire will have consequences. We have plans, and we will act in the time and place that we choose.”
The IRGC stated that the missile assault was in retaliation for an airstrike the previous week, which killed Hezbollah’s top officials, including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in Lebanon.
