Trump teases possible US strike as Iran supreme leader warns America: Live updates

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Trump teases possible US strike as Iran supreme leader warns America: Live updates Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected President Trump's demand for unconditional surrender, as Iranians jammed the highways out of Tehran.
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Trump teases possible strike on Iran but says it's not too late for deal
"I may do it. I may not do it." President Trump teased a possible strike on Iran but also said it is not too late to negotiate.
President Trump suggested he could order a U.S. strike on Iran in the coming week. He said no decision had been made.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Iran "will not surrender."
Trump snubbed an offer by Russian President Vladimir Putin to mediate between Israel and Iran.
Trump said Iran had asked for a White House meeting. Iran's U.N. mission responded with a furious denial.
WASHINGTON − President Donald Trump teased a possible U.S. strike on Iran, as the country's supreme leader warned of "irreparable damage" if America joined Israel's air war.
'I may do it. I may not do it," Trump told reporters at the White House on June 18. "Nobody knows what I'm going to do.'
'The next week is going to be very big," he said. "Maybe less than a week.'
Earlier, in a speech televised one day after Trump demanded Iran's "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" on social media, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected any notion of surrender as Iranians jammed the highways out of Tehran fleeing intensified Israeli airstrikes.
More: Iran: 11 facts about a country rarely visited by westerners
Khamenei's defiant speech came after a sixth night of airstrikes by Israel and Iran sent civilians fleeing for safety in Tehran and Tel Aviv.
"Intelligent people who know Iran, the Iranian nation and its history will never speak to this nation in threatening language because the Iranian nation will not surrender," he said. Trump on June 17 personally threatened Khamenei, caling him an "easy target."
Follow along with USA TODAY's live coverage of the conflict.
President Donald Trump says he'll be meeting with his national security team in the Situation Room this afternoon.
Trump signaled this morning as he spoke to reporters that he was actively considering taking military action in Iran.
He said at an afternoon event that he has "ideas" of what he'd like to do but had not made a "final decison."
"I like to make a final decision one second before it's due, because things change," Trump said.
-- Francesca Chambers
Iran summoned the German ambassador in Iran to protest the German chancellor's "offensive remarks," Iranian media including the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Wednesday.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday the complete destruction of Iran's nuclear weapons program could be on the agenda if Tehran does not back down and return to the negotiating table.
--Reuters
The United States is working to evacuate U.S. citizens wishing to leave Israel by arranging flights and cruise ship departures, U.S. ambassador Mike Huckabee said in a post on X on Wednesday, as fears mount of further military escalation between Iran and Israel.
The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem was working on the evacuation arrangements, Huckabee said, urging Americans in the country to sign up for updates through the State Department's Smart Traveler program.
"Urgent notice! American citizens wanting to leave Israel- US Embassy in Israel @usembassyjlm is working on evacuation flights & cruise ship departures. You must enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP)," Huckabee wrote.
-Reuters
Iran is set to impose temporary restrictions on internet access, the communications ministry said in a statement relayed by Iranian media on Wednesday, as the country continues to exchange missiles with Israel.
The statement said the move was to prevent "the enemy from threatening citizens' lives and property."
-Reuters
Iran's mission to the United Nations said its leaders would never "grovel at the gates of the White House" after Trump told reporters Tehran had requested a meeting there.
More: 'Nobody knows what I'm going to do': Trump says he hasn't decided whether to strike Iran
"The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to 'take out' Iran's Supreme Leader," the mission said on X. "Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance."
"Iran shall respond to any threat with a counter-threat, and to any action with reciprocal measures," the statement warned.
-Joey Garrison
An anti-Iranian hacking group with possible ties to Israel announced an attack on one of Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, destroying nearly $90 million and threatening to expose the platform's source code.
A group known as Gonjeshke Darande, or 'Predatory Sparrow,' claimed the attack, making it the group's second operation in two days. On June 17 the group claimed to have destroyed data at Iran's state-owned Bank Sepah amid increasing hostilities between Israel and Iran.
The June 18 attack targeted Nobitex, one of Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchanges. The platform allegedly helps the Iranian government avoid sanctions and finance illicit operations around the world, the hackers claimed in a message posted to its social media channels.
-Reuters
Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to mediate talks between Israel and Iran during a call between the two men Tuesday, but Trump told the Russian leader to focus on ending his country's war with Ukraine.
'I spoke to him yesterday. He actually offered to mediate,' Trump told reporters on June 18. 'I said, 'Do me a favor. Mediate your own. Let's mediate Russia first, OK?'"
More: Who is Iran's Supreme Leader? Like Trump, he controls a real-estate empire
'I think that's going to work out, too, but so many people have been killed,' Turmp said, adding that 'far more people are dead' in the Russia-Ukraine war than reported.
Trump has increased his communication with Putin amid the Israel-Iran conflict. He spoke to Putin on Saturday, June 16. Trump, who turned 79 that day, said Putin called to wish him happy birthday and to 'more importantly, talk about Iran, a country he knows very well.'
Trump canceled a scheduled June 17 meetingwith Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Alberta, Canada, due to his early exit from the Group of Seven summit to focus on the Israel-Iran war.
-Joey Garrison
Despite the escalating Israel-Iran conflict, Trump told reporters he still plans to attend next week's North American Treaty Organization summit set to take place at The Hague in the Netherlands.
'Yeah, I'll be going. I think so,' Trump said on June 18.
The NATO conference is set for June 24 and 25. This week, Trump left the Group of Seven meeting in Alberta, Canada, early to return to the Whtie House address the fighting in the Middle East.
-Joey Garrison
Some MAGA Republicans disagree on Israel-Iran conflict US policy
The Israel-Iran conflict is dividing Republicans on whether the U.S. should get involved.
Trump brushed off divisions in the MAGA movement over potental U.S. involvement in strikes on Iran, telling reporters his supporters are 'more in love' with him now than during the 2024 election.
'I only want one thing: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,' Trump said. 'It's not a question of anything else.'
A nuclear-armed Iran would be "a terror all over the world," he said.
"So I may have some people that are a little bit unhappy now, and I have some people that are very happy," Trump said. "And I have people outside of the (Republican) base that can't believe this is happening, they're so happy."
He added: 'All I'm doing is saying, 'you can't have a nuclear weapon.' And I tried to do it nicely, and then on day 61, I said, 'Let's go.' Because we can't let that happen.'
-Francesca Chambers
President Donald Trump, who until late last week had been pushing a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear program, said Tehran had reached to Washington, but "it's very late to be talking."
"There's a big difference between now and a week ago," Trump told reporters outside the White House. Trump said that Iran had proposed, in a "last-minute" outreach, to come for talks at the White House. He did not provide details. He described Iran as totally defenseless.
"They even suggested they come to the White House,' Trump said. 'That's courageous, but you know, it's not like easy for them to do."
Iran's mission to the United Nations rejected Trum's claim. '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 mission said in a statement on X.
Nearby, on Capitol Hill, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Senate Armed Services Committee the Pentagon is ready for whatever action Trump might order against Iran. "If and when those decisions are made, the department is prepared to execute them," Hegseth said.
-Joey Garrison
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said that he has asked the Trump administration to provide all 100 senators a classified briefing on the situation unfolding between Israel and Iran.
"We've gotten briefings and I have requested that we get an all-senators classified briefing," Schumer said, adding that he believes it will be granted.
-Reuters
Conservative media figure Tucker Carlson grilled RepublicanSen. Ted Cruz on Iran in a contentious exchange that is drawing attention to the divide between conservatives on U.S. military action in the country.
'How many people live in Iran by the way?' Carlson asked Cruz in an excerpt released June 17 from Carlson's online show.
Cruz, who recently said on Fox News it's "very much in the interest of America to see regime change" in Iran, told Carlson he didn't know the country's population.
Later, Carlson told Cruz: 'You don't know anything about Iran!'
More: MTG, Tucker Carlson urge Trump to stay out of Iran, exposing a MAGA rift
'I am not the Tucker Carlson expert on Iran,' Cruz responded.
'You're a senator whose calling for the overthrow of the government,' Carlson retorted.
-Zac Anderson
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as been Iran's supreme leader since 1989, holding onto absolute power over the Islamic republic through popular uprisings, assassinations, and a massive expansion - and now contraction - of Tehran's regional power.
More: Tucker Carlson grills Ted Cruz on Iran, highlighting conservative rift
Khamenei lost his top military leadership and most important nuclear scientists in Israeli air strikes last week, and was later personally threatened by President Trump. Here's some of what he had to say in a June 18 address:.
"...the President of the United States has recently opened his mouth to threaten us. He is both threatening and, with a ridiculous and unacceptable statement, explicitly asking the Iranian nation to 'come and surrender to me!' When a person observes these things, he is truly amazed."
"The Iranian nation cannot be surrendered. We have not been subjected to anyone, and we will not accept any kind of submission..."
"And, of course, the Americans, those who are familiar with the politics of this region, know that America's intervention in this matter is 100 percent to their detriment. What they will suffer in this regard is much greater than what Iran may suffer."
"Life is going on normally, thank God. Do not let the enemy feel that you are afraid of him, that you feel weak. If the enemy feels that you are afraid of him, he will not let you go."
Israel's military said 50 Israeli jets had struck around 20 targets in Tehran overnight, including sites producing raw materials, components and manufacturing systems for missiles. The military told Iranians to leave parts of the capital for their safety while it struck targets.
Traffic was backed up on highways leading out of the city of 10 million people. Arezou, 31, told Reuters by phone that she had made it out to the nearby resort town of Lavasan.
"We will stay here as long as this war continues. My friend's house in Tehran was attacked and her brother was injured. They are civilians," she said. "Why are we paying the price for the regime's decision to pursue a nuclear programme?'
In Israel, sirens rang out warning people of Iranian retaliatory missile strikes. At Ramat Gan city train station east of Tel Aviv people were lying on city-supplied mattresses lined along the floor, the odd camping chair and plastic water bottles strewn about.
"I feel scared, overwhelmed. Especially because I live in a densely populated area that Iran seems to be targeting and our city has very old buildings, without shelters and safe spaces," said Tamar Weiss, clutching her four-month-old daughter.
-Reuters
As Israel and Iran trade blows in an escalating aerial war, Israel has its sights trained on taking out Iran's nuclear facilities – and it wants the U.S. military's help.
Israel wants the Pentagon to drop the bombs because their penetrating weapons cannot reach the depth necessary to destroy underground facilities, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Fully demolishing Iran's nuclear facilities would require 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs, or "bunker-busters," which Israel's military doesn't have.
But Israel could use smaller penetrating weapons to collapse the entry ways to Iran's underground nuclear facilities, Scott Murray, a retired Air Force colonel and intelligence officer, told USA TODAY. Israel could then effectively bar Iran from recovery work at the sites.
'Think of it as a no-work zone patrolled from above,' he said. 'Air superiority buys incredible capability and flexibility.'
-Cybele Mayes-Osterman and Tom Vanden Brook
Israel's National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi offered the clearest signal yet about the goals of Israel's air campaign, telling local Channel 12 News on June 17 the military is going after the hardest target in Iran: The Fordo nuclear enrichment plant.
'This operation will not conclude without a strike on the Fordo nuclear facility,' Hanegbi said.
Fordo, built into a mountain to withstand airstrikes, has 1,000 centrifuges used to enrich uranium. Hanegbi made clear Israel's war would only end after Fordo was hit.
Analysts say that would take a U.S. 'bunker buster' bomb, dropped from an American plane. But Hanegbi said Israel was ready to go it alone.
'We're not trying to convince the Americans to join,' he said. 'The prime minister has a close and intimate dialogue with President Trump, but we never received any promise the U.S. would take part.'
Hanegbi added the plan is 'entirely blue and white' - fully Israeli, without external military support.
-Kim Hjelmgaard