Trump to make Iran war decision in ‘next two weeks’

AFP | Washington

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US President Donald Trump said yesterday he will decide whether to join Israel’s strikes on Iran within the next two weeks as there is still a “substantial” chance of negotiations to end the conflict.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read out a message from Trump, saying there had been “a lot of speculation” about whether the United States would be “directly involved” in the conflict.

“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Trump said in the statement.

The announcement could lower the temperature and give space for diplomacy, after a fevered few days in which Trump said Iran’s leader was an “easy target” and vowed that Tehran could never have a nuclear weapon.

But Leavitt also told reporters that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in the space of a “couple of weeks.”

“Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon. All they need is a decision from the supreme leader to do that, and it would take a couple of weeks to complete the production of that weapon,” she said.

Trump said on Wednesday that Iran had asked to send officials to the White House to negotiate a deal on its nuclear program and end the conflict with Israel.