Tense countdown: Trump to decide on Iran airstrikes in two weeks
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Thursday he will decide whether to join Israel's strikes on Iran within the next two weeks as there is still a "substantial" chance of negotiations to end the conflict.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read out a message from Trump, saying there had been "a lot of speculation" about whether the United States would be "directly involved" in the conflict.
"Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks," Trump said in the statement.
The announcement could lower the temperature and give space for diplomacy, after a fevered few days in which Trump said Iran's leader was an "easy target" and vowed that Tehran could never have a nuclear weapon.
But Leavitt also told reporters that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in the space of a "couple of weeks."
"Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon. All they need is a decision from the supreme leader to do that, and it would take a couple of weeks to complete the production of that weapon," she said.
Trump said on Wednesday that Iran had asked to send officials to the White House to negotiate a deal on its nuclear programme and end the conflict with Israel.
Iran denied it would do so.
Leavitt would not give details of what had led Trump to believe that negotiations with Iran were possible, but denied he was putting off a decision.
"If there's a chance for diplomacy the president's always going to grab it, but he's not afraid to use strength as well," Leavitt said.
The spokeswoman said "correspondence has continued" between Washington and Tehran when asked about reports that Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff had been in touch with Iran's foreign minister.
Trump held his third meeting in three days in the White House's highly secured Situation Room on Thursday as he continued to mull whether to join Israel's bombing campaign.
The US president had said on Wednesday that "I may do it, I may not do it" when asked if he would take military action against Iran.
Trump had spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path towards a deal to replace the nuclear deal with Iran that he tore up in his first term in 2018.
But he has since backed Israel's attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities and military top brass, while mulling whether to join in.
A key issue is that the United States is the only country with the huge "bunker buster" bombs that could destroy Iran's crucial Fordo Iranian nuclear enrichment plant.
The White House meanwhile urged Trump supporters to "trust" the president as he decides whether to act.
A number of key figures in his "Make America Great Again" movement, including commentator Tucker Carlson and former aide Steve Bannon, have vocally opposed US strikes on Iran.
Trump's promise to extract the United States from its "forever wars" in the Middle East played a role in his 2016 and 2024 election wins.
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