President Trump says he’s prepared to decide whether to attack Iran within 10 days — after deploying a second aircraft carrier strike group to the region.
“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 last June on Iran’s nuclear program 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 proceeded to do.
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.”
