President Donald Trump Wednesday refused to say if he has decided to order an attack on Iran to help Israel destroy the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.
Talking to reporters at an unrelated White House event, Trump was tight-lipped about if or when he might direct U.S. forces to join Israel’s devastating attacks on the Iran.
“I may do it, I may not do it,” Trump said. “Nobody knows what I will do.”
He added: “I can tell you this: Iran’s got a lot of trouble.”
In this photo released by the Iranian Red Crescent Society rescuers work at the scene of an explosion after an Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (Iranian Red Crescent Society via AP)
Trump stood by his demand for “unconditional surrender” by Iran, and brushed off Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s warning that U.S. strikes on Iran would “result in irreparable damage for them.”
“I say good luck,” Trump said when asked about the supreme leader’s refusal to surrender.
Despite the tough talk and the days of unrelenting Israeli attacks, Trump did not entirely rule out new diplomatic talks with Iran.
“Nothing’s too late (but) it’s very late to be talking,” Trump said. “There’s a big difference between now and a week ago.”
Trump’s comments came as he inspected the construction of new flag poles on the White House south lawn, one of his pet projects.
Mourners carry the flag-draped coffins of five men, whose names were not immediately available, reportedly killed in Israeli strikes, during their funeral in the city of Khorramabad, Iran, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Aziz Babanezhad/Tasnim News Agency)
Despite Trump’s caginess, Israeli officials are increasingly confident Trump will agree to use U.S. bunker-buster bombs to attack Iran’s underground nuclear facilities buried deep in the mountains near Tehran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes it’s a matter of “not if but when” Trump will join the fray, Axios reported, citing unnamed top Israeli officials.
Trump’s openness to joining Israel’s war amounts to a remarkable turnaround from his previous stance that the U.S. wanted to avoid war and was committed to a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear program.
He had dispatched special envoy Steve Witkoff to negotiate with Iran and more talks were scheduled for this past weekend when Netanyahu literally blew up the diplomatic talks by unleashing a massive attack on Iran.
Now that the Israeli attacks have proven more successful than expected, and the Iranian response less effective, Trump is having second thoughts about staying on the sidelines.
The president rushed back early from the G7 summit in Canada to meet with his security team and has started using the term “we” to describe Israeli military actions against Iran.
The shift has opened deep divisions within Trump’s MAGA movement with several prominent far right-wing figures calling for him to avoid getting the U.S. involved in a new Middle East war.
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/06/18/trump-israel-attack-on-iran-nobody-knows/