Washingtin DC: US President Donald Trump has claimed Iran is seeking to remove him from office because it believes a Democratic administration would be more willing to allow Tehran to develop a nuclear weapon, while insisting Iran will not be permitted to acquire one under his leadership.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said Iran was attempting to influence US politics to get him out of office.
“They’re trying to do anything possible to get me out because they think the Democrats will let them essentially have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said, adding that Iran “are not going to have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump also rejected any suggestion that he regrets launching the war with Iran, saying he would make the same decision again.
“I don’t believe in the word regret,” Trump said. “If I had it to do again, I’d do exactly as I did. I took out their nuclear capability.”
He argued that allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon would have posed a severe threat to Israel, the wider Middle East and the United States.
Trump said Iran would have used a nuclear weapon if it had acquired one, describing its leadership as “crazy” and warning that the consequences could have extended beyond the region.
“They would have wiped out Israel. They would have wiped out the Middle East. And they would have started hitting a couple of our cities,” he said.
Trump also sought to highlight the economic performance of his administration during the conflict, claiming US stocks had repeatedly reached record levels.
“The stock market right now is at an all-time high,” Trump told Fox News, claiming it had reached such levels 81 times during his current term.
His comments came as oil prices surged amid continuing tensions surrounding the conflict and the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy chokepoint through which a significant portion of the world’s oil and gas supplies passes.
Earlier, Trump said Iran’s leadership would be “thrilled” by his decision to rename the strategic waterway the “Trump Strait.”
Speaking at the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas, Trump also claimed the US was “winning” the war with Iran and tied the conflict to developments in energy markets and the strategic importance of the waterway.
The remarks come against the backdrop of heightened US-Iran tensions, with the Strait of Hormuz remaining a central point of concern for global energy markets and governments monitoring the wider conflict.
Trump’s comments also underline his continued defense of military action against Iran, framing the conflict as necessary to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon and presenting the confrontation as a broader test of US security interests in the Middle East.
