President Donald Trump said his decision to bomb Iranian nuclear sites in June forestalled a nuclear war and provided a major boon to Israel, adding new superlatives to his positive assessment of the attacks.
“Nobody has done more for Israel than I have, including the recent attacks on Iran, wiping that thing out,” Trump said in an interview with Daily Caller published on Sunday.
Trump ordered a United States military campaign dubbed Midnight Hammer on June 22, targeting the nuclear sites at Esfahan, Natanz and Fordow in Iran.
“I stopped seven wars and wiped out a nuclear war that would have happened with Iran. That was going to happen,” Trump said.
The attack involved B-2 stealth bombers armed with 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs), so-called bunker buster bombs designed to destroy fortified underground facilities.
The Trump administration had set a 60-day deadline to secure a nuclear agreement with Iran. On day 61, with four rounds of negotiations completed and a fifth looming, Israel launched a surprise military attack on Iran on June 13.
France, Germany and the United Kingdom are pressuring Iran to resume talks with the US and resolve disputes over its nuclear program.
The European troika, which are party to a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, had set a deadline for Tehran to make an effective and tangible move toward diplomacy by the end of August.
The E3 notified the United Nations in late August that they would pursue the reimposition of UN sanctions under the so-called "snapback" mechanism unless Iran returned to nuclear talks, granted inspectors wider access and provided details on its highly-enriched uranium stockpile.
European governments have stressed that there is still time for diplomacy before sanctions formally return.
Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said last week Iran will soon unveil unspecified measures in response to the European decision to trigger the UN snapback mechanism.
