U.S. President Donald Trump made a series of remarks on the Middle East conflict, including Israel’s war against Hezbollah, Syria’s role in regional security, and U.S. policy toward Iran and the nuclear deal, during an exchange with reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit.
Trump argued that military strikes in Lebanon have often caused widespread destruction, saying that civilian apartment buildings should not be targeted in the pursuit of militants. He suggested that Israel’s approach has prolonged the conflict and increased human losses.
He also suggested that Syria could potentially assume a more active role in confronting Hezbollah, describing its leadership as having stabilized quickly in recent years.
Below are his remarks:
“It can, and you know, I consider that the minor war, the Iran is a big one, but we have that a little pinprick out there that constantly rears its head, and that's Hezbollah.
And, you know, I was very responsible for Syria, and the man that's running Syria now is a person that I put there along with President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and some others. He's done an amazing job of pulling it together.
He's not a boy scout, but he's done an amazing job of pulling it together. And he is very good with Hezbollah, does not like them. And I'll tell you what, Israel's fighting Hezbollah for too long, and too many people are being killed.
And you don't have to knock down an apartment house every time you're looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they're not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you.
And I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah, because to be honest with you, I think they'd do a better job of doing it.
And I didn't like Syria. I didn't like when two hours before we're signing the agreement that there was an attack in Lebanon, in Beirut. It wasn't like in the southern side, and you know, it was in Beirut. I did not like that.
I let them know that. I didn't like it. Not at all.
But I think that Syria, you know, he [Ahmed al-Sharaa] has pulled that country together amazingly quickly. He's very capable. And he's been very good for me.
He has protected everything that I've asked for, he has done. And if Israel can't do the job without killing everyone else, he'll do the job. Syria will do the job.
- Question: Are you frustrated with [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, sir?
No. We had a great relationship.
We're talking about some end details. I didn't like that he did an attack based on a — you know, there's a very minor little thing with some drones that were released. And he ends up doing a very — I saw that attack.
I saw where that bomb went. Did you see what happened? That was not — that was a vicious — that was too much. You know, you can do too much also.
But we've had a very effective relationship. Without us — without the United States, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did.
I've had a great relationship with Bibi, but now Bibi has to — be more responsible with respect to Lebanon. Lebanon used to be a great country. It was a country where you had professors, doctors, lawyers.
The great intellect was in Lebanon. Now it's just — it's terrible. I would say of all countries, they've been treated the worst.
And they can't defend themselves. And they have Hezbollah, which is a problem for them. So, no, I'm not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah.
They should have been able to do the job faster. It just goes on forever. And when that happens, it throws a negative light on the big deal, and that's the deal with Iran.
So, when you asked me about Bibi — an unbelievable relationship. But Israel would have been blown up a long time ago had I not gotten involved. Two things I did.
I terminated the Iran nuclear deal. Barack Hussein Obama sold out Israel for Iran. He went to Iran.
He sold them out. How anybody can vote for this guy or the party — the Democrats, I call them, because they're dumb. They're dumb people.
That's number one, how anybody can vote for them. And the second was the B-2 bombers just totally destroyed. So, they had the right — they're the JCPOA.
I watch these politicians. I watch this Senator Reid that nobody ever heard of the other day. Well, this deal is the same as the deal Barack Obama — no.
This deal is a wall to a nuclear weapon. His deal was a road to a nuclear weapon. My deal, they can't have a nuclear — they get blown up.
If they have a nuclear weapon, they get blown up. In his deal, they were allowed to have a nuclear weapon. If — and in all fairness to Bibi — Bibi, I remember very well, Bibi came to Washington and begged — he begged Obama not to make that deal.
And Obama was on the side of Iran, not Israel. And he made the deal. That deal was a disaster.
I terminated that deal. And if I didn't terminate — and it was very tough after the termination — and if I didn't do that, Howard knows better than anybody. If I didn't terminate that deal, I believe that they would."