President Trump says he’s prepared to decide whether to attack Iran within the next 10 days — after deploying a second aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East.
“We may have to take it a step further, or we may not. Maybe we’re going to make a deal. You are going to be finding out over the next, probably, 10 days,” Trump said Thursday at a meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington.
Trump said that his airstrikes this past June on three Iranian nuclear facilities helped bring stability to the region — as US-partnered Arab nations fear a second strike could have the opposite effect.
“It totally decimated the nuclear potential, and when it did, when it decimated that, all of a sudden we had peace in the Middle East, because there was a black cloud hanging over the Middle East. And if that wasn’t done, that cloud would have been there,” he said.
Trump threatened in early January to attack if Iranian authorities violently suppressed anti-regime protests, which the theocracy’s leaders did to the tune of thousands of deaths. Subsequent talks involving Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have focused on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Subsequent talks involving Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have focused on Tehran’s nuclear program.
“Now is the time for Iran to join us on a path that will complete what we’re doing. And if they join us, that’ll be great. If they don’t join us, that’ll be great too, and it’ll be a very different path,” Trump said.
“They cannot continue to threaten the stability of the entire region. And they must make a deal or if that doesn’t happen … bad things will happen.”
Last month, the president ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and a supporting strike group into the Arabian Sea — setting the stage for possible strikes — and a second aircraft carrier is en route.
The US military also has repositioned warplanes in Europe and the Middle East.
Trump said last week that Iran faced a “traumatic” moment if it won’t accede to his gunboat diplomacy.
He met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House last week to discuss war plans, with Netanyahu urging the targeting of Iran’s longer-range ballistic missiles.
Trump has endorsed regime change in Tehran — despite his decades-long attacks on prior US presidents for destabilizing the Middle East with military interventions, including in Iraq.
The president has not said who he wants to replace the Islamic Republic’s entrenched leaders, but has dismissed exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi as a viable option.
