Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar appeared on Newsmax on Sunday, saying President Donald Trump is showing remarkable leadership in addressing Iran’s nuclear program. Saar compared Trump’s handling of the Iran crisis to President Bill Clinton’s response to Iran’s nuclear program in the 1990s. “Think back to the mid-’90s when President Bill Clinton threatened North Korea not to develop nuclear weapons, but eventually, in the historic moment, he didn’t act. And therefore today North Korea has nuclear weapons“, Saar said.
Trump, Saar said, acted decisively in concert with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the nuclear threat in the region. Saar also said there was strong impetus for Israel and the U.S. to strike now because intelligence showed Tehran was preparing to move key elements of its nuclear program into deep underground facilities. The move would place them beyond the reach of airstrikes.
“We understood they are going to take their nuclear program to a very deep underground installation, which it will be immune there. That moment would put them in a de facto immunity from airstrikes. So that was the moment that a decision must be taken in order to act. Letting Iran develop nuclear weapons would dramatically increase the danger posed by a regime that already destabilizes the Middle East and targets U.S. allies”, Saar said.