Donald Trump issues World War III warning if he isn’t president

Donald Trump told attendees at a conservative conference on Friday that he can “prevent World War III” if he returns for a second term in the White House.

The Republican presidential candidate made the remark at The Believers’ Summit which was hosted in Palm Beach, Florida, by Turning Point Action, the campaigning arm of conservative group Turning Point USA.

During his address on Friday, which was broadcast in full by the conservative-leaning Right Side Broadcasting Network, Trump said: “I will prevent World War III, nobody else is going to say that, we are closer today to World War III than we’ve been since the Second World War. We will restore peace through strength, that’s what we had.”

Tensions between rival great powers have surged in the past few years with Russia launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, sparking a war that has caused to the Russian military alone around 550,000 casualties according to a recent British military estimate. A swath of Western powers, including the United States, reacted to the invasion by imposing sanctions on Russia and providing weapons to Ukraine.

Separately, on October 7, 2023, thousands of Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack on southern Israel killed around 1,200 people, and kidnapping about 250 into Gaza. In response, Israel launch a major air and land incursion into Gaza which has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians according to the territory’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. The conflict has also seen skirmishing between Israel and Lebanese military group Hezbollah and there are fears this will turn into all-out war.

“You know remember when Hillary Clinton,” he continued. “She used to say look at him, he will get us into war, look at his attitude. I said no, my attitude is going to keep you out of war, that’s what happened. We had no new wars other than I defeated ISIS but that was a war that was already started. I defeated 100 percent of the ISIS caliphate.”

Newsweek contacted representatives of Donald Trump‘s 2024 presidential election campaign for comment on Saturday by email outside of usual business hours.

While ISIS lost nearly all the territory it directly controlled in Iraq and Syria, the group remains active and continues to conduct attacks such as the Crocus City Hall shooting near Moscow in March, which left 140 dead.

Trump also repeated his pledge to replicate Israel’s “Iron Dome” antimissile shield across the United States, commenting: “In my next term, we will build a great Iron Dome missile defense shield over our country, a dome block has never been seen before and it will be entirely made in the USA.”

The former president made similar remarks earlier this month during his Republican National Convention speech in which he said: “We’re going to build an Iron Dome over our country and we’re going to be sure that nothing can come and harm our people.”

On Friday, Trump also met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where he also warned there could be a “third world war” if he doesn’t win in November.