WASHINGTON ( WNAM MONITORING ): President Donald Trump appeared to angrily distance himself Thursday from a news report that suggested he has signed off on attack plans that would see the US join Israel’s strikes against Iran.
“The Wall Street Journal has No Idea what my thoughts are concerning Iran!” Trump said on Truth Social.
The president did not specify exactly which reports his post was in response to, but the Journal reported Wednesday that the US president has told senior officials that he has approved plans to attack Iran, but has yet to give the final order to carry them out.
Trump is waiting to see if Iran will abandon its nuclear program, the newspaper reported, citing anonymous people familiar with the matter.
It said Tehran’s Fordo enrichment facility, buried deep under a mountain, is a potential target, but striking it would require the most powerful weapons in the US arsenal.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump told reporters that he had not yet made up his mind as to whether he would authorize the military to join Israel’s ongoing campaign against Iran, saying: “I may do it. I may not do it.”
“I don’t want to fight either. I’m not looking to fight. But if it’s a choice between fighting and them having a nuclear weapon, you have to do what you have to do, and maybe we won’t have to fight,” he said in the Oval Office. “I have ideas as to what to do. I like to make a final decision one second before it’s due.”
Trump said the next week would be “very big” as he mulls his decision, saying doing so might take less time.
The Journal reported that Trump is hoping his threats to join Israel’s campaign, now on its seventh day with no signs of relenting as Iran continues its counterattacks, would compel Iran to abandon its nuclear program.
Hostilities began on Friday when Israel launched airstrikes on several sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes.
Israeli authorities said at least 24 people have been killed and hundreds injured since then in Iranian missile attacks.
Meanwhile, in Iran, 585 people have been killed and more than 1,300 wounded in the Israeli assault, according to Iranian media reports.
