President Donald Trump kept the world guessing on Wednesday whether the U.S. would join Israel’s bombardment of Iranian nuclear and missile sites, as residents of Iran’s capital streamed out of the city on the sixth day of the air assault.
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.
Offering a glimmer of hope for negotiations, 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, a German diplomatic source told Reuters. The aim of the talks, which the source said are taking place in coordination with the United States, is to persuade Iran to firmly guarantee that it will use its nuclear program solely for civilian purposes.
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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 U.S. military help to destroy Fordow, dug beneath a mountain near the city of Qom.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected Trump’s demand on Tuesday for unconditional surrender, and Iranians jammed highways out of the capita,l Tehran, a city of 10 million people, as residents sought sanctuary from intensified Israeli airstrikes.
Khamenei, 86, rebuked Trump in a recorded speech played on television, his first appearance since Friday.
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The Americans “should know that any U.S. 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.”
In its latest bombings, Israel said its air force destroyed Iran’s police headquarters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video released by his office on Wednesday, said Israel was “progressing step by step” towards eliminating threats posed by Iran’s nuclear sites and ballistic missile arsenal.
