US President Donald Trump said the killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020 and US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in June paved the way for the Gaza peace deal between Israel and Hamas.
“It started probably with Soleimani. He was a mastermind who did a lot of bad things,” Trump said in a Fox News interview, referring to the late Quds Force commander.
“He’s the father of the roadside bomb that would blow up and maim so many of our great soldiers,” he added.
Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport in January 2020 on Trump’s orders.
The US president said the turning point that paved the way for the Gaza peace earlier this month came in June when US B-2 bombers carried out what he called a “beautiful military operation” against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“They flew for 37 hours, went into Iran’s airspace, and bombed the hell out of it,” he said. “When we destroyed their nuclear capability, they no longer became the bully of the Middle East.”
He said the US operation, along with Israeli strikes on Iran, made possible what he described as peace beyond Gaza.
“We wouldn’t have been able to make the deal we just made, which is basically peace in the Middle East beyond Gaza,” Trump said.
The ceasefire mediated in early October by the United States, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar put an end to over two years of Israeli attacks on Gaza, which started in response to Hamas's October 7 attack.
