By AAMER MADHANI, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump would not say Wednesday whether he has decided to order a U.S. strike on Iran, a move that Tehran warned anew would be greeted with stiff retaliation if it happens.
“I may do it, I may not do it,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters at the White House . “I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
Trump added that it’s not “too late” for Iran to give up its nuclear program as he continues to weigh direct U.S. involvement in Israel’s military operations aimed at crushing Tehran’s nuclear program.
“Nothing’s too late,” Trump said. “I can tell you this. Iran’s got a lot of trouble.”
“Nothing is finished until it is finished,” Trump added. But “the next week is going to be very big— maybe less than a week.”
Trump also offered a terse response to Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s refusal to heed to his call for Iran to submit to an unconditional surrender.
“I say good luck,” Trump said.
Khamenei earlier Wednesday warned that any United States strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will “result in irreparable damage for them” and that his country would not bow to Trump’s call for surrender.
Trump said Tuesday the U.S. knows where Iran’s Khamenei is hiding as the the Israel-Iran conflict escalates but doesn’t want him killed — “for now.”
“He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump said.
Trump’s increasingly muscular comments toward the Iranian government come after he urged Tehran’s 9.5 million residents to flee for their lives as he cut short his participation in an international summit earlier this week to return to Washington for urgent talks with his national security team.
Trump said that the Iranian officials continue to reach out to the White House as they’re “getting the hell beaten out of them” by Israel. But he added there’s a “big difference between now and a week ago” in Tehran’s negotiating position.
“They’ve suggested that they come to the White House— that’s, you know, courageous,” Trump said.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations refuted Trump’s claim in a statement on social media. “No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House. The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to ‘take out’ Iran’s Supreme Leader. ”
The U.S. president said earlier this week Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to serve as a mediator with Iran. But Trump said he told Putin to keep focused on finding an endgame to his own conflict with Ukraine.
“I said, ‘Do me a favor, mediate your own,’” Trump said he told Putin. “I said, ‘Vladimir, let’s mediate Russia first. You can worry about this later.’”
The comments were a shift from Trump who earlier this week said he was “open” to Putin’s offer to mediate.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier Wednesday that Moscow has cautioned Washington against offering direct military assistance to Israel.
“We are warning Washington against even speculative, hypothetical considerations of the sort,” Ryabkov said, according to the Interfax news agency. “That would be a step drastically destabilizing the situation as a whole.”
The Russia-Iran relationship has deepened since Putin launched a war on Ukraine in February 2022, with Tehran providing Moscow with drones, ballistic missiles, and other support, according to U.S. intelligence findings.
Trump is also facing deep skepticism about deepening U.S. involvement in the Mideast crisis from some of his most ardent supporters. Trump during his 2024 run for the White House promised voters he would quickly end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and keep the U.S. out of costly conflicts.
Steve Bannon, who served as a senior adviser to Trump during his first administration, on Wednesday said the administration should tread carefully.
“This is one of the most ancient civilizations in the world, ok?” Bannon told reporters at an event sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. “With 92 million people. This is not something you play around with. You have to think this through. And the American people have to be on board. You can’t just dump it on them.”
Bannon and other Trump allies, including Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk and conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, have raised concerns that direct U.S. involvement in the conflict could be seen as a betrayal to some members of Trump’s coalition and potentially cause a schism in MAGA world.
Trump pushed back at the notion that deepening U.S. involvement could impact his standing with bis base.
“My supporters are more in love with me today, and I’m in love with them more than they were even at election time when we had a total landslide,” Trump said.
Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed reporting.
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