US President Donald Trump has said the United States should not have become involved in conflicts in either Iraq or Iran, describing past American military interventions in the Middle East as a “mistake.”
Speaking in an interview with Fox News, Trump criticised previous US war policies and questioned Washington’s long-standing military engagements in the region.
“Look at what happened in Iraq. We performed very badly there. What we did was a tremendous mistake. First of all, we should never have gone there,” Trump said.
He then extended the criticism to Iran, saying, “We should not have gotten involved in Iran either, although Iran has that capability.”
At the same time, Trump defended US military action aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“Had we not struck Iran with B-2 bombers nine months ago, they would have nuclear weapons right now,” he said. “If that had happened, the situation today would be completely different. You might not even find Israel and the entire Middle East could be under threat.”
The US president argued that American strikes had prevented a much wider regional crisis and potentially catastrophic consequences.
Trump also claimed that Washington had deliberately avoided inflicting major damage on Iran’s regular military forces.
“We have largely left their regular military alone because we believe they are somewhat moderate,” he said. “But they have other forces that are not moderate at all. We targeted those groups and eliminated leadership figures at various levels.”
According to Trump, US operations focused on specific military and leadership targets rather than Iran’s conventional armed forces.
The president further criticised what he described as a past US policy of completely destroying countries during military campaigns.
“People may be surprised to hear me say this,” Trump said. “In previous wars, mistakes were made where everything was wiped out. As a result, a country may not be able to recover even after 40 years.”
His comments come amid continued debate in Washington over US involvement in Middle Eastern conflicts and ongoing efforts to reach a broader agreement with Iran.
