WASHINGTON:
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had not taken a final decision on whether to bomb Iran and warned that the current leadership in Tehran could fall because of the Israeli attack, a day after demanding of Iran to surrender unconditionally.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump said that Iranian officials had reached out about negotiations including a possible meeting at the White House. He also said his patience had run out, though he gave no clue as to what his next step would be.
“I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he said about attacking Iran. He warned that Iran’s current leadership could fall as a result of the war. A change in Iran’s government “could happen”, he said, adding: “They want to come to the White House — I may do that.”
Trump’s media talk came as Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected his call for unconditional surrender. when asked for his response to Khamenei rejecting his demand to surrender, Trump said: “I say, good luck.”
Trump has veered from proposing a swift diplomatic end to the six-day-old war to suggesting the United States might join it. In social media posts on Tuesday, he mused about killing Khamenei, then demanded Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
A source familiar with internal discussions said Trump and his team were considering options that included joining Israel in strikes against Iranian nuclear installations. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Senate committee that the Pentagon was prepared to execute any order given by Trump.
At his media talk, Trump appeared to rebuff Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to mediate in the Israel-Iran conflict. “He actually offered to help mediate. I said, ‘Do me a favour, mediate your own [Ukraine war]. I said ‘Vladimir, let’s mediate Russia first, you can worry about this later’.”
