WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Jun 18) declined to answer reporters’ questions on whether the US was planning to join Israel to strike Iran or its nuclear facilities, shortly before a Wall Street Journal report emerged saying he had told senior aides that he had approved plans for such an attack.
According to the WSJ, Trump was holding off on giving the final order to see if Tehran will abandon its nuclear programme.
“There’s a big difference between now and a week ago,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “I may do it. I may not do it. Nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
Trump said Iranian officials had reached out about negotiations, including a possible meeting at the White House. But he added: “It’s very late to be talking.” He did not provide further details.
He described Iran as “totally defenceless, with no air defence whatsoever.”
Asked when his patience would run out, Trump told reporters: “It’s already run out. That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.” However, when asked if it was too late for negotiations, he said: “Nothing is too late.”
The US military is “prepared to execute” any decision Trump might make on matters of war and peace, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday, even as he declined to confirm preparations of strike options on Iran.
“If and when those decisions are made, the Department (of Defense) is prepared to execute them,” Hegseth told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“IRREPARABLE DAMAGE”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday the nation would never surrender and warned the United States of “irreparable damage” if it intervenes, while Israel said it had destroyed the internal security headquarters in Tehran.
Khamenei’s speech came six days into the conflict, with Trump saying he may or may not intervene in the conflict, while demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender”.
The long-range blitz began on Friday, when Israel launched a massive bombing campaign that prompted Iran to respond with missiles and drones.
“This nation will never surrender,” Khamenei said in a speech, in which he called Trump’s ultimatum “unacceptable”.
“America should know that any military intervention will undoubtedly result in irreparable damage,” he said.
Khamenei, in power since 1989 and the final arbiter of all matters of state in Iran, had earlier vowed the country would show “no mercy” towards Israel’s leaders.
Source: Agencies/rj