Benjamin Netanyahu credits Trump with spotting Iran threat 'decades ago'

WASHINGTON, DC: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu credited US President Donald Trump with seeing the Iran problem long before it became a headline staple.

In a Monday sit-down with Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy, Netanyahu argued that Trump grasped both Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its expanding missile capabilities early on, while much of the West looked the other way.

Iran’s evolving military reach

Ruddy pointed to a concerning incident. “There was also that attempted strike near Diego Garcia — 2,500 miles from Iran,” he said.

“Yes, it wasn't an intercontinental missile, but it's getting there — about 4,000 kilometers [approximately 2,500 miles],” Netanyahu said. “That puts much of Europe within range.”

The Israeli leader warned that Iran’s steady progress in both nuclear development and delivery systems has been underestimated for years. 

“The question is whether the West will wake up,” Netanyahu said. “Iran has been pursuing nuclear weapons and delivery systems for years, yet many ignored it.”

That warning comes as intelligence and defense analyses increasingly flag Iran’s improving missile range, developments that experts say could eventually put Western capitals directly in the crosshairs.

Trump 'recognized the threat decades ago'

Netanyahu suggested Trump was something of an early outlier on Iran, who sounded the alarm decades before it dominated the news cycle.

“Donald Trump, he said 40 years ago ... ‘Iran is the great danger,’” Netanyahu said. “When they took over hostages in the American embassy, he said, ‘This regime has to be confronted.’”

According to Netanyahu, Trump acted decisively. “President Trump didn't ignore it,” he said. “He recognized the threat decades ago and acted decisively, including leaving the Iran nuclear deal.”

That 2018 withdrawal from the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action sparked backlash from Democrats and European allies at the time, though conservatives have long argued it closed loopholes they believed Tehran could exploit.

Netanyahu added that Trump took a hard line on uranium enrichment.

“They still have a stock of enriched uranium,” he said. “And that's the focus of President Trump's demand. He says, ‘Take it out. Give it to me.’”

Iran's aggression

Netanyahu described Iran as a destabilizing force with ambitions that stretch across regions and continents.

“This is not just Israel's problem,” he said.

He also accused Tehran of widespread aggression, including backing proxy attacks.

“They're bombing every country in sight, including the European countries through their proxy, Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said.

The prime minister argued that the stakes couldn’t be higher, warning of a far more dangerous world if Iran were to go nuclear.

“What kind of world would we have if they had nuclear weapons? And that's what President Trump, with my support and our partnership, has set out to prevent," he insisted.

He added that Iran continues “to kill its own people by the thousands while calling for death to Americans.”

Netanyahu praises Trump’s leadership

Netanyahu cast Trump as a steady hand in a volatile situation.

“President Trump has shown amazing leadership, amazing fortitude,” Netanyahu said. “He's bold, but he's also — he thinks about things a lot more carefully than people think. But he's bold.”

He also called Trump a consistent ally of Israel and a partner in their fight against extremism.

“He ... understands that Israel, while we're fighting to defend ourselves, we understand also that we're fighting against these barbarians, these people who shoot their people by the thousands, who oppress women, who oppress minorities, who bomb everything in sight, every Arab country,” Netanyahu said. “We're very lucky to have the president lead this. And I think Israel is very lucky to have such a close partnership with America.”