Donald Trump leaves G7 summit early
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was aiming for a 'real end' to the conflict between arch-rivals Israel and Iran, and not just a ceasefire, after five days of back-and-forth strikes.
'I'm not looking for a ceasefire, we're looking at better than a ceasefire,' Trump told reporters on board Air Force One before arriving back prematurely in the United States from a G7 summit in Canada.
The president said he was looking for 'an end, a real end, not a ceasefire,' adding that he wanted a 'complete give-up' by Iran.
Donald Trump again warned Iran against targeting US troops and assets in the Middle East, saying 'we'll come down so hard, it'd be gloves off'.
The US leader departed the G7 gathering a day early, as ally Israel and Iran traded fire for a fifth straight day, with Israel hitting Iranian nuclear and military sites, and Tehran responding with missile strikes.
Trump has repeatedly declined to say if the United States would participate in Israeli military action, although he has said Washington was not involved in initial strikes and the White House said US forces remained in a defensive posture.
On his way back to Washington, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he would be in the White House Situation Room early Tuesday morning.
The Situation Room is where presidents convene their National Security Council in times of geopolitical crisis or when they order major military operations.
Trump also said he had 'not reached out to Iran for 'Peace Talks' in any way, shape, or form,' in a later post on Truth Social.
'If they want to talk, they know how to reach me. They should have taken the deal that was on the table – Would have saved a lot of lives!!!'
Iran, since Trump pulled out of an earlier nuclear deal in 2018, has ramped up uranium enrichment but not yet at levels to create an atomic bomb.
The United States, Israel and Western allies have repeatedly said they will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons.
On Monday, Trump had said his early departure from the G7 summit had 'nothing to do' with a possible ceasefire between Israel and Iran, adding that France's leader had been 'wrong' to suggest otherwise.
'Publicity seeking President Emmanuel Macron, of France, mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit, in Canada, to go back to D.C. to work on a 'cease fire' between Israel and Iran,' Trump wrote on Truth Social.
'Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that.'
Macron had suggested the United States was ready to make a diplomatic overture to Iran.
'There was an offer made for a meeting and an exchange,' Macron told reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit.
'If the United States can obtain a ceasefire, it is a very good thing.'
The leaders of the G7 industrial democracies on Monday called for 'de-escalation' in the Middle East starting with the Israel-Iran conflict, stressing that Israel 'has a right to defend itself' and that civilians needed to be protected on both sides.
Trump had earlier sent an ominous warning to people in the Iranian capital to flee.
'Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!' he wrote on Truth Social.
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By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
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