Trump says Iran has 'second chance' to come to nuclear deal as Israel and Iran exchange blows
Witkoff still plans to go to Oman this weekend for talks on Tehran's nuclear program, but it's unclear if the Iranians will participate, according to U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private diplomatic discussions.
The president made a series of phone calls Friday to U.S. television news anchors to renew his calls on Iran to curb its nuclear program.
CNN's Dana Bash said Trump told her the Iranians 'should now come to the table" and get a deal done. And Trump told NBC News that Iranian officials are 'calling me to speak" but didn't provide further detail.
Trump also spoke Friday with British Prime Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron about the evolving situation, as well as Netanyahu.
Meanwhile, oil prices leapt and stocks fell on worries that the escalating violence could impact the flow of crude around the world, along with the global economy.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., offered rare words of Democratic praise for the Trump administration after the attack 'for prioritizing diplomacy' and 'refraining from participating" in the military strikes. But he also expressed deep concern about what the Israeli strikes could mean for U.S. personnel in the region.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who's on Democrats' shortlist for top 2028 White House contenders, said if Israel can set back Iran's nuclear program with the strikes 'it's probably a good day for the world.'
'But make no mistake: We do not want an all-out war in the Middle East," Shapiro said. "That's not only bad for the Middle East, it's destabilizing for the globe, and it's something that I hope will not occur.'
Israel launched blistering attacks on the heart of Iran's nuclear and military structure Friday, deploying warplanes and drones previously smuggled into the country to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists — a barrage it said was necessary before its adversary got any closer to building an atomic weapon.
Iran retaliated by unleashing scores of ballistic missiles on Israel, where explosions flared in the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below. The U.S. military assisted Israel intercept the missiles fired by Iran in the retaliatory attack.
Trump, in the hours before the Israeli attack on Iran, still appeared hopeful in public comments that there would be more time for diplomacy.
But it was clear to the administration that Israel was edging toward taking military action against Iran. The State Department and U.S. military on Wednesday directed a voluntary evacuation of nonessential personnel and their loved ones from some U.S. diplomatic outposts in the Middle East.
Before Israel launched the strikes, some of Trump's strongest supporters were raising concerns about what another expansive conflict in the Mideast could mean for the Republican president, who ran on a promise to quickly end the brutal wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
Trump has struggled to find an endgame to either of those conflicts and to make good on two of his biggest foreign policy campaign promises.
And after criticizing President Joe Biden during last year's campaign for preventing Israel from carrying out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, Trump found himself making the case to the Israelis to give diplomacy a chance.
The push by the Trump administration to persuade Tehran to give up its nuclear program came after the U.S. and other world powers in 2015 reached a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limited Tehran's enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
But Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the Obama administration-brokered agreement in 2018, calling it the 'worst deal ever.'
The way forward is even more clouded now.
'No issue currently divides the right as much as foreign policy,' Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA and an ally of the Trump White House, posted on X on Thursday. 'I'm very concerned based on (everything) I've seen in the grassroots the last few months that this will cause a massive schism in MAGA and potentially disrupt our momentum and our insanely successful Presidency.'
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