John Bolton, national security adviser under President Donald Trump, says Israel and the United States have failed to deter Iran from attacking Israel after it fired a massive barage of drones and missiles at Israel.
An attack by Iran had been anticipated by Israel and its allies in retaliation for an attack on Syria two weeks ago that killed 13 people. Israel has not claimed responsibiity for that assault.
Without going into details on what he thinks they should have done, Bolton told CNN Saturday night. "I think it is incumbent on Israel and the United States to reestablish deterrence in a major way."
He went on to say, "I think that means, by definition, Israel's response, and there should be a response, should not be proportionate. It should be far stronger."
Bolton says that Israel is lucky that Iran didn't use any nuclear weapons in the bold attack on Israel that included hundreds of drones and missiles.
"You never can tell when the next firing, next salvo of ballistic missiles might contain a nuclear warhead."
Bolton called for Israel to destroy Iran's nuclear weapon program as a response to the retaliatory attack and says President Biden should not try to dissuade Israel from taking out Iran's nuclear program.
He further emphasized his opinion that if Iran ever used a nuclear weapon against Israel, "history will know who to blame."
