US President Donald Trump claimed Sunday that Israel would no longer exist without his military intervention against Iran, defending his decision to strike Iranian nuclear facilities despite acknowledging that the war contributed to Republican losses in last week's midterm elections.
In an interview with Ross Douthat on CBS' "60 Minutes," Trump argued that his administration's military operations had prevented Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and ensured Israel's survival.
"Without us, Israel would not exist. Israel would not exist except for Donald Trump because we went in with those beautiful B2 Bombers more than a year ago, and we hit the three sites at-- at the time."
The President also asserted that countries protected by American military action would reimburse Washington for the costs of the war.
"Those countries that we've protected are going to pay us back any and all costs that we've had for the war because without us, they wouldn't exist."
Asked whether he regretted supporting Israeli strikes targeting Iran's leadership, given that the resulting changes within the Iranian regime appeared to have intensified the conflict, Trump defended the strategy as necessary to eliminate the threat over the long term.
"Yeah, you could've done that, but-- we had people that would have gone further. I wanna have it for the long term, not for the short term. We decapitated their nuclear arsenal. If I didn't do that, there would be no Israel right now. Israel would be gone. Look, I deal with these people. I deal with a lotta people, and that's what I've done my whole life. I make deals. And obviously, I make good deals."
Turning to the November 3 midterm elections, Trump attributed the Republican Party's losses to public opposition to the Iran war, rising gasoline prices and what he described as growing hostility toward Israel.
"Well, number one, I was not on the ballot. But I campaigned hard for some people. And-- I think if I was on the ballot, it would've been a much different situation because you saw the level of popularity and love. There was love. I mean, we had massive rallies. Nobody's ever seen rallies like that for midterms. And-- there wasn't one room that didn't have thousands of people outside, couldn't get in. So-- you had to transfer those voters, however, to candidates that they didn't like. But there's something beyond that."
He continued, "They didn't like the war [with Iran]. They didn't like the fact that gasoline went up, 'cause I had it down at a low. In Iowa, it was $1.85 cents a gallon. $1.85 a gallon. And-- when you look at $1.85 and you go up to $3.50, $4, h-- still lower than Biden, lower than Obama, but the war was blamed for that. And they didn't like the war I think mostly for that reason because I think everyone agrees that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. And they will never have a nuclear weapon. They won't have that. But-- and there's-- a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel. There seems to be a dislike for Israel. So you have that. You have the war itself. You have the gas prices. And I think those are the primary reasons. And, you know, MAGA-- and-- always, I wanna keep out of wars. I've settled eight wars."
Trump was also asked about Vice President JD Vance's assessment that the Iran war had been responsible for the Republican electoral defeat.
"I don't disagree", Trump replied, before insisting that the United States had already achieved victory and that Tehran remained interested in reaching an agreement.
"That war has been won. Now they're withering away as a country, and they'll come and they'll make a deal. They'll definite-- they wanna make a deal. We-- by the way, just before we get-- they wanted to make a deal just before the election. And that gives them a little bit of a hope certificate now. But we were close to making a deal. If we didn't have this election, we might've even had-- or within the next few days we woulda had a deal."
Despite the political consequences, Trump maintained that he would make the same decision to attack Iran again "because you can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. I think historically, this will be a very good decision. Is it a good decision for today and tomorrow? Maybe not. But I have to go with what's right for our country. If they had a nuclear weapon, you and I would not be speaking the way. If they had a nuclear weapon during my term, I would be excoriated far worse than what's happened."
"I've stopped them from having a nuclear weapon. That's a big thing. And they were ready to make a deal with me. We would've had a deal, except for this election. And we'll make a deal anyway."
Asked whether he intended to escalate the conflict now that the elections were over, Trump indicated that additional strikes were not currently necessary, although American forces continued monitoring Iranian nuclear facilities.
"Well, I'm not looking to. I don't think there's any reason to. I don't think there's any reason to. They have nothing. It's buried under thousands of tons of rock. And we have-- through Space Force, which I created, we have-- we have telescopic lenses that are unbelievable. I can-- I can tell the color of the red dots on your tie. And we watch every one of those-- sites, the three that we blew up, and also Pickaxe Mountain. If we needed to do Pickaxe-- we'll watch it. If we needed to do Pickaxe, which we don't at this moment, we would have that done in one hour, it would be taken care of."