President Donald Trump has not disclosed whether he has decided to order a U.S. strike on Iran, and Tehran has again warned that such a move would have serious consequences if it were carried out.
“I can do it, or I can refrain from doing it,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House.
“Nobody knows what I'm going to do.”
Mr Trump added that it was “not too late” for Iran to abandon its nuclear programme as it continued to consider direct US involvement in Israeli military operations aimed at suppressing threats from Tehran.
“It’s not too late,” Mr. Trump said. “I can tell you this: Iran has a lot of problems.”
“Nothing is over until it’s over,” Mr. Trump added. But “the next week is going to be critical — maybe even less than a week.”
Mr Trump also responded briefly to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's refusal to heed his call for unconditional surrender.
“I wish you luck,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr Khamenei had previously warned that any US strikes on the Islamic Republic would “cause irreparable damage” and that his country would not bow to Mr Trump's call for surrender.
Mr Trump said on Tuesday that the US knew where Mr Khamenei was in Iran as tensions between Israel and Iran escalated, but did not want to remove him – “yet”.
“He's an easy target, but he's safe there. We're not going to eliminate him (kill him!), at least not yet,” Mr. Trump said.
In a video message to Israelis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed gratitude for Mr Trump's support, calling him “a great friend of Israel” and praising US help in protecting Israeli airspace.
“We communicate constantly, including last night,” Mr. Netanyahu said on Wednesday. “We had a very warm conversation.”
Mr Trump's increasingly harsh language against the Iranian government comes after he called on Tehran's 9.5 million people to flee for their lives, cutting short an international summit earlier this week to return to Washington for urgent talks with his national security team.
Mr Trump said Iranian officials continue to approach the White House while Israel “squeezes them dry”.
However, he added that in Tehran's negotiations “there is a significant difference between
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
