‘May do it, may not’: Trump on US strike on Iran
US President Donald Trump will not say if he has decided to order an American strike on Iran, a move that Iranian officials have again warned would bring stiff retaliation.
Speaking outside the White House on Wednesday (local time), Trump declined to say if he had decided the US would join Israel’s bombing campaign against Iran.
“I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he said.
Asked about his demand for Iran’s “unconditional surrender”, Trump said that meant he’d “had it”.
“I give up — no more. Then, we go blow up all the nuclear stuff that’s all over the place there,” he said.
Trump said Iranian officials had been in touch about negotiations, including a possible meeting at the White House.
But “it’s very late to be talking”, he said.
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Asked for his response to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejecting the idea of surrendering, Trump said: “I say, good luck.”
People jammed highways out of the capital Tehran, a city of 10 million people, on Wednesday as residents sought sanctuary from intensified Israeli airstrikes.
In its latest bombing run, Israel said its air force destroyed Iran’s police headquarters.
“As we promised – we will continue to strike at symbols of governance and hit the ayatollah regime wherever it may be,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
Khamenei, 86, rebuked Trump in a recorded speech played on television, his first appearance since Friday.
The US “should know that any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage”, he said.
“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.”
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Trump has veered from proposing a swift diplomatic end to the five-day-old war to suggesting the US might join it.
A source familiar with internal discussions said Trump and his team were considering options that included joining Israel in strikes against Iranian nuclear installations.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told a US Senate committee that the Pentagon was prepared to execute any order given by Trump.
Israel’s military said 50 Israeli jets struck about 20 targets in Tehran overnight, including sites producing raw materials, components and manufacturing systems for missiles.
It advised Iranians to leave parts of Tehran for their own safety while it bombed targets.
Arezou, a 31-year-old Tehran resident, 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 program?”
In Israel, sirens rang out warning people of retaliatory Iranian missile strikes.
At Ramat Gan city train station east of Tel Aviv, people lay on city-supplied mattresses along the floor or sat in camping chairs, with 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.
