WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM: President Donald Trump kept the world guessing about whether the United States will join Israel’s bombardment of Iranian nuclear sites as the Israel-Iran conflict entered its seventh day on Thursday (Jun 19).
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump declined to say if he had made any decision on whether to join Israel’s campaign. “I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he said.
Trump in later remarks said Iranian officials wanted to come to Washington for a meeting and that “we may do that”. But he added, “It’s a little late” for such talks.
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain plan to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart on Friday in Geneva aimed at persuading Iran to firmly guarantee that it will use its nuclear program solely for civilian purposes, a German diplomatic source told Reuters.
But while diplomatic efforts continue, some residents of Tehran, a city of 10 million people, on Wednesday jammed highways out of the city as they sought sanctuary from intensified Israeli airstrikes.
The Wall Street Journal said Trump had told senior aides he approved attack plans on Iran but was holding off on giving the final order to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear program.
Asked if he thought the Iranian government could fall as a result of the Israeli campaign, Trump said: “Sure, anything could happen.”
Referring to the destruction or dismantling of Iran’s Fordow nuclear enrichment centre, Trump said: “We’re the only ones that have the capability to do it. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to do it – at all.”
Military analysts believe that Israel might need US military help to destroy Fordow, dug beneath a mountain near the city of Qom.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, rebuked Trump in a recorded speech played on television, his first appearance since Friday.
The Americans “should know that any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage”, he said. “The Iranian nation will not surrender.”
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