Following Donald Trump‘s previous warning that Iran is waiting to make a big move due to the foreign policies of President Joe Biden, the former president warned on Monday that the Middle Eastern country is building a “large scale” nuclear arsenal.
On October 7, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest ever airstrikes on Gaza. As of Monday, the Gaza Health Ministry said 2,670 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded, while over 1,400 Israelis have been killed in the conflict, the Associated Press reported.
Iran, which backs Hamas, has denied involvement in the attack on Israel. However, a Hamas representative Ahmed Abdulhadi previously told Newsweek that the militant group had coordinated with Iran and Hezbollah—a Lebanese Islamist militant group that is also backed by Iran—”before, during and after this battle at the highest level.”
In a post to Truth Social on Friday, Trump said that the ongoing Israeli-Hamas conflict would never have happened if not for the “rigged and stollen [sic]” 2020 presidential election, repeating the unsubstantiated claim that his loss to Biden was caused by widespread voter fraud.
On Monday, the former president, who is also the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, followed up on his previous statement with another post to Truth Social, calling out Biden and claiming that “Iran is rapidly building a large scale arsenal of nuclear weapons and once they have them, which will be soon, all negotiations stop.”
“Would somebody please inform our worst president in history, crooked Joe Biden, who doesn’t have a clue, that while he dithers around and illegally attacks his political opponent, me, and is always trying to blame everyone else for the many, many, many mistakes he has made, Iran is rapidly building a large scale arsenal of nuclear weapons. Once they have them, which will be soon, all negotiations stop,” Trump wrote.
He continued: “That’s when our incompetent fool of a president will drop to his knees and beg Iran for mercy. ‘Please, please, please, Mr. Ayatollah, sir, I will give you everything, I will do anything you demand. Don’t hurt us!’ This is the position that this stupid fool has put us in. Three years ago, under ‘Trump,’ Iran was broke—no nuclear weapons, or prospects. Biden has made them rich, and has no idea what to do. They started the attack on Israel and desperately want to become openly involved. ‘Death to Israel,’ they chant. Don’t let Iran have nuclear weapons!”
In his Truth Social post on Friday, Trump accused the Biden administration of being responsible for Israel’s “unprecedented death and destruction,” arguing that the region had been at peace due to his own administration’s role in brokering the Abraham Accords.
The Abraham Accords, agreements intended to normalize Israeli-Arab relations, were signed between Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in September 2020. Israel signed additional agreements with Morocco and Sudan during the final months of the Trump administration.
However, the agreements have faced criticism for failing to ease Israeli-Palestinian tensions prior to the current conflict.
Since Hamas’ October 7 attack, the Biden administration has faced criticism from other Republicans over a prisoner exchange deal that involved the release of $6 billion in frozen funds to Qatar, alleging that the money was used by Iran to fund the attack on Israel.
Shortly after the attacks, Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, took to social media to criticize Biden’s policies in regards to the Middle Eastern country, calling them “irresponsible.”
“Today, we are watching the culmination of Biden’s absolutely irresponsible policies with respect to Israel. He has directed funds to Palestine. UN funds have gone to Palestine. He JUST handed $6 BILLION to Iran. Now we see the results. Israel is our closest ally in the world. We need to stand by Israel in this deadly situation!” the congresswoman wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
However, White House officials said on Friday that Iran had not actually accessed any of the funds. The Biden administration maintains that the money would only be available for humanitarian purchases from non-Iranian sources.
“No funds enter Iran ever, nor do any funds get paid to Iranian companies or entities,” a senior administration official told reporters in September. “These funds will be available only for transactions for humanitarian goods with vetted third-party, non-Iranian vendors.”
Newsweek has reached out to Trump and Biden via email for further comment.