'Would not exist': Trump claims Israel would not exist today if he wasn't president

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donal Trump claimed that Israel "would not exist" today if he were not serving as president, casting his handling of Iran as the decisive reason the country still exists.

The remarks came during a phone interview with ‘Fox & Friends’ Tuesday, July 28, just hours before he was set to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

Trump used the appearance to contrast his record with previous administrations and argue that his actions, rather than decades of broader US policy, prevented Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Donald Trump ties Israel's survival to his presidency

Trump told the Fox hosts that Iran had "effectively" accepted it could not develop a nuclear weapon, although he said the understanding still needed to be formalized.

"They cannot have a nuclear weapon, it's very simple, and they have agreed to that essentially. We have to get them to make it formal, but they've agreed to it and why wouldn't they? Why wouldn't they?" Trump said.

After co-host Brian Kilmeade noted that multiple administrations had struggled with Iran over the past five decades, Trump argued that earlier presidents had failed to confront Tehran.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuin the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, March 25, 2019 (SAUL LOEB / AFP) (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

"For 50 years, other presidents should have done this job," he said, before renewing his criticism of former President Barack Obama's 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran.

Trump called the accord "the worst, dumbest deal" and claimed Obama had "paid them billions of dollars," arguing the agreement amounted to "the road to a nuclear weapon."

Trump contrasts record with past presidents

The president also pointed to the 2020 US strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani as another example of his approach toward Tehran, saying the operation weakened the country's leadership.

He then linked that action with more recent US military operations carried out during his second administration.

"We stopped the nuclear with the B-2, and I stopped it also when I terminated that horrible deal made by Obama," Trump said.\

Trump argued those actions had prevented Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, repeatedly presenting his own decisions as the turning point after years of failed policy by previous administrations.

President makes his most sweeping claim

Trump closed the exchange with his broadest assertion, saying Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon would have fundamentally changed the balance of power in the region.

"If they had a nuclear weapon, you would not have Israel around," he said.

He then personalized that argument even further, adding, "Frankly, if I weren't president of the United States, Israel today would not exist."

The comments came as Trump prepared to welcome Netanyahu to the White House, where he continued to frame his Iran policy as the defining factor behind what he described as Israel's continued survival.