President Donald Trump has set a two week deadline to decide if the United States will strike Iran.
“Based on the fact that there is a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place in the near future, I will make my decision of whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday, reading a statement from the president to reporters. Leavitt said Trump would prefer a diplomatic solution, but the president — in consultation with the National Security Council — is weighing U.S. military intervention to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, according to a recent POLITICO report. The U.S. is the only country with the military capacity to destroy Iran’s nuclear program.
“Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon,” Leavitt said. “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, which would of course pose an existential threat not just to Israel, but to the United States and to the entire world.”
The comments came at the end of a week of heightened tension in the decades-long conflict between Israel and Iran. As Iran and Israel lobbed rockets at each other, Trump left the Group of Seven conference early and has convened multiple meetings in the Situation Room.
The conflict has divided Trump’s coalition, driving a rift between an isolationist faction and hawks who have long sought to hobble Iran. Leavitt said Trump has long maintained his position that the U.S. should interfere to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and quoted his comments on the subject from more than a decade ago.
“The president has made it clear he always wants to pursue diplomacy, but believe me, the president is unafraid to use strength as necessary,” Leavitt said. “And Iran and the entire world should know that the United States military is the strongest and most lethal fighting force in the world, and we have capabilities that no other country on this planet possesses.”
Leavitt declined to answer whether the president wanted regime change in Iran, which has been a goal of hawks like Sen. Lindsey Graham and a red line for MAGA isolationists.
