Trump: “I Don’t Know If Netanyahu Will Run Again”

The U.S. president told an ABC News reporter that he does not know whether Benjamin Netanyahu will run for another term and that “he has had an amazing career.” U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview with ABC that he is not sure whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will seek another term in office. “I don’t know, he’s had an amazing career. Does he want to keep going? Because, you know, he’s a prime minister in wartime. We’ll soon win the war one way or another, and you know he’s a prime minister in wartime. That’s okay, just like I’m a president in wartime,” Trump said.

Trump also presented a slightly different version of what happened in his conversation with Netanyahu after Iran violated the ceasefire and launched missiles at Israel, saying that he did in fact directly ask the prime minister to hold off on striking Iran. Trump said he told Netanyahu, “I don’t want to do anything that’s going to hurt the deal, but I said, ‘You have to use your judgment. Just go out and use your judgment,’ but I don’t want the deal to be hurt.”

The president also said the Israeli counterattack in Iran on Sunday was “unnecessary” in his view, but noted that he understands why Israel did it. According to him, “When you’re attacked, there really has to be a retaliation.”