World Holds Breath, Trump to Decide on Iran Next Week
President Donald Trump will decide within two weeks whether to attack Iran, his spokesman said, as Israel attacks more Iranian nuclear sites and warns its strikes could bring down Tehran’s leadership.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said she received a dictated message from Trump that “based on the fact that there is a very good chance that negotiations may or may not occur with Iran in the near future, I will make a decision whether or not to go in the next two weeks.”
Trump has been openly musing for days about raising the stakes by the U.S. by joining an Israeli strike on Iran. His latest stance marked a step back after a series of tough rhetoric, including demands that Tehran residents evacuate, and his early departure from this week’s Group of Seven summit in Canada to return to Washington.
Oil pared earlier gains and equity futures remained lower after Leavitt’s comments. Trump has for years had a penchant for setting two-week deadlines, sometimes following through on them and other times missing them or not acting at all, making “within two weeks” a common phrase for delayed decisions in both of his White House terms.
Leavitt said Trump’s remarks were in response to media speculation about “the situation in Iran.” He declined to elaborate on his timetable, including on how he viewed the chances of further talks with Iran succeeding.
Trump’s goal — halting Iran’s uranium enrichment and preventing the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon — remains intact, though “if there’s an opportunity for diplomacy, the president will always take it,” he said.
Senior U.S. officials have been preparing for a possible strike on Iran, people familiar with the matter said, with some pointing to potential plans for a weekend strike. Top leaders at several federal agencies have begun preparing for an attack, one person said.
An Iranian missile hit an Israeli hospital on Thursday for the first time since the war began, underscoring the risk to civilians on both sides. Israel's Health Ministry reported minor injuries at the Soroka Medical Center in the south of the country, saying the missile landed in a department that had been evacuated. Israel said Iran used a missile with a warhead that breaks into dozens of widely dispersed submunitions before exploding on the ground. A missile with a fragmenting warhead was launched by Iran in 2017, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier Thursday that while Israel's military goal remains destroying Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, "we can create the conditions" to help change the government. Asked if that meant targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Netanyahu said "no one is immune." Netanyahu later told Israel's Kan TV that Israel had struck more than half of Iran's missile launchers. "It doesn't matter how many missiles they have," he said. "What matters is how many launchers they have."
Israeli warplanes struck dozens of military targets in Iran overnight, including a dormant nuclear reactor in the Arak region. Arak has long been the focus of international scrutiny because of its potential role in the production of plutonium, which could be used in future nuclear weapons production if reprocessing capabilities are developed. European governments have made the case for diplomacy, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer calling on Trump to keep the door open to resuming talks on Iran’s nuclear program. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S.
special envoy Steve Witkoff met Thursday at the White House with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who plans to join the French and German foreign ministers for talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday. “The situation in the Middle East remains dangerous,” Lammy said in a statement. “There is now an opportunity in the next two weeks to reach a diplomatic solution.” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani held separate phone calls with Rubio and Araghchi on Thursday, according to the ministry in Rome. Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, called for an end to hostilities and a return to dialogue.
Source: Bloomberg
