Trump approved Iran attack plans on Tuesday but then decided to hold off, report says
The president delivered his private instructions in the White House Situation Room, The Wall Street Journal reports, but has so far delayed giving the final order.
'I have ideas on what to do but I haven't made a final – I like to make the final decision one second before it's due,' Trump told reporters on Wednesday.
A White House aide told the Journal that Trump is continuing to monitor developments and will act accordingly, adding that multiple options remain on the table.
So far, U.S. involvement has been carefully restricted to helping Israel block Iranian missiles and drones, according to officials.
At present, Iran shows little sign of backing down and continued its missile assault on southern Israel overnight, causing 'extensive damage' to a major hospital, the Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheba.
Explosions were also heard in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv while Iran's Arak heavy water reactor was hit in retaliatory strikes.
Israel began its Operation Rising Lion offensive six days ago, killing several top military leaders and subsequently striking some 1,100 targets, provoking an aggressive backlash from Tehran.
Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio originally stressed that the U.S. was not involved and that the president had made efforts to dissuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from resorting to military action to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.
But Trump's messaging has since been much more mixed, and the president has reportedly fallen out with his Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, over her opposition to intervention by 'warmongers' playing at brinkmanship.
Talks with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine continued on Wednesday after the two men had appeared before the Senate Armed Forces Committee and after Trump had publicly repeated his calls on Tehran to surrender, allowing the threat of reprisals, should the country fail to comply, hanging in the air.
'I may do it, I may not do it,' he told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House. 'The next week is going to be very big, maybe less than a week.'
Iran reacted angrily to his words, with its United Nations Mission saying in a statement: 'Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance.'
The personal insult is unlikely to endear Trump to their cause, and Iran's Fordow uranium-enrichment facility is considered a probable target if the president does give the go-ahead to attack.
Earlier this week, the U.S. military began relocating tanker planes and fighter jets to air bases in Europe and ships into the Mediterranean so as to 'provide options to President Donald Trump as Middle East tensions erupt into conflict between Iran and Israel,' according to administration officials cited by Reuters.
During his appearance before Congress yesterday, Hegseth said any decision would be made 'at the presidential level,' adding that the Pentagon is working 'to ensure everything at our disposal is available to ensure maximum force protection against any contingency.'
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Yahoo
7 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Love in a cold climate: Putin romances Trump in Alaska with talk of rigged elections and a trip to Moscow
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Washington Post
9 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Trump, Putin break off summit with no Ukraine deal
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CNN
9 minutes ago
- CNN
Live updates: Trump-Putin summit ends without concrete deal on Ukraine
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It's not clear how much progress was made toward a ceasefire in Ukraine, but both Trump and Putin have said they ultimately want to normalize relations between the US and Russia and they want to meet again. 'Next time in Moscow,' Russia's leader said. Update: Date: 20 min ago Title: Eastern European officials react with skepticism to Putin's comments Content: Senior government officials in Eastern Europe have reacted with skepticism to comments made by Russian President Vladimir Putin following the Alaska summit. While saying he was interested in ending the conflict, Putin said the primary causes needed to be 'eliminated' for that to happen, adding that the 'situation in Ukraine' had to do with 'fundamental threats to (Russia's) security.' In a post on X on Saturday morning local time, Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene accused Putin of 'more gaslighting and veiled threats,' a reference to the Russian leader issuing a warning to Ukraine and Europe not to 'sabotage' progress made at the summit. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said in a statement that he welcomed US President Donald Trump's efforts but doubted Putin's interest in a deal, according to Reuters. 'If Putin were serious about negotiating peace, he would not have been attacking Ukraine all day today,' he said. Update: Date: 20 min ago Title: US and Russia to continue building relations despite "resistance," top Kremlin negotiator Kirill Dmitriev says Content: Russia's top economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev said the US received Russia 'very well' in Alaska and that the two countries would continue building relations despite 'resistance.' 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Trump treated Putin like 'this big shot on the world stage, and he's been treated by the rest of the west as a kind of pariah,' Zakaria said, referring to an ICC war crimes warrant issued for the Russian president's arrest that restricts his movements around the globe. 'So there was a lot of the atmospherics that were cringeworthy,' he said. However, Zakaria said that in his analysis, 'it was a positive that there was no deal.'I think everyone was worried that there was going to be a deal in which Trump was going to make major concessions. I don't think anyone thought Putin was going to make any concessions. The fear was that Donald Trump was going to cave in the various ways — sell out Ukraine, sell out Europeans. And he didn't do that. And so I think, you know, I'm at least relieved,' Zakaria said. Update: Date: 20 min ago Title: Trump and Putin skipped Q&A because 'exhaustive statements were made,' Kremlin spokesperson says Content: US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin skipped answering questions at yesterday's joint news conference because their statements said it all, according to the Kremlin's spokesperson. 'Exhaustive statements were made,' Dmitry Peskov said when asked why the two leaders only delivered remarks at the news conference, according to Russia's RIA Novosti news agency. 'The conversation is really very positive, and the two presidents spoke about it. This is the very conversation that allows us to confidently continue moving forward together on the path of seeking resolution options,' Peskov said, RIA reported. Update: Date: 11 min ago Title: Trump says he and Putin made "great progress" toward a deal and that he's calling Zelensky and NATO leaders Content: US President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin 'made some headway' and 'great progress' in their bilateral meeting, but added that 'there's no deal until there's a deal.' 'I will call up NATO in a little while. I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate. And I'll, of course, call up President [Volodymyr] Zelensky and tell him about today's meeting. It's ultimately up to them,' Trump said after today's summit in Anchorage, Alaska.'We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to,' Trump said, adding, 'We didn't get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.' Trump added that Ukraine would have to 'agree' with what Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and others in his administration discussed with Putin today, though he did not delve into specifics on any framework for a deal. Trump and Putin took no questions after their statements. Putin kicked of remarks and spoke for about eight minutes. Trump, who is known for typically longer and at times free-wheeling news conferences, only spoke for about four minutes. 'I'm going to start making a few phone calls and tell them what happened,' Trump said.
