Trump says he will decide whether to strike Iran within 2 weeks

WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will make a decision on whether or not to carry out strikes on Iran within two weeks.

"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 a statement read aloud by White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.

The announcement comes as Trump faces an internal rift within his Republican base over whether or not he should join Israel's campaign against Iran. Prominent voices, including, media personality Tucker Carlson, Trump strategist Steve Bannon, Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have warned against the president becoming involved in direct military action.

Many have voiced criticism that direct involvement would lead to Trump becoming entangled in another costly foreign intervention, something he vocally campaigned against while running for president.

Still, traditional Republican hawks, including Sens. Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham, have been pushing for military action.

The White House maintained that Trump's priority is ensuring Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon.

"Nobody should be surprised by the president's position that Iran absolutely cannot obtain a nuclear weapon. He's been unequivocally clear about this for decades," Leavitt told reporters at the White House. "It's why he has given great latitude and given a lot of effort to achieving a diplomatic solution, but he's been very clear."

She maintained that 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 doing so would "pose an existential threat not just to Israel, but to the United States and to the entire world."

"That is something that the entire world, including countries like Russia, is in agreement with, that Iran should not and cannot obtain a nuclear weapon," she said.

Iran has denied that it seeks to acquire a nuclear weapon.

Leavitt confirmed earlier reports that Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi have spoken after Israel began strikes against Iran last Friday, by saying in response to a question about the talks, "As for correspondence between the United States and the Iranians, I can confirm that correspondence has continued."

"As you know, we were engaged with six rounds of negotiations with them, in both indirect and direct ways," she said.

Negotiations began in April, and were set to continue last Sunday, but Israel's attacks on June 13 against Iran's nuclear facilities, military sites, nuclear scientists and senior officials prompted Tehran to call off the meeting and launch retaliatory strikes.

Israeli authorities said at least 25 people have been killed and hundreds injured since then in Iranian missile attacks. In Iran, 639 people have been killed and more than 1,300 wounded in the Israeli assault, according to Iranian media reports.

Trump's two-week timeframe comes as the foreign ministers from Germany, France and the UK plan to meet with their Iranian counterpart this week to seek a diplomatic solution to the Israel-Iran conflict.

They are expected to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday in Geneva, the DPA news agency reported, citing German diplomatic sources. No additional details were provided.

Leavitt said she is "not tracking that on Mr. Witkoff's travel schedule, but I can certainly check in with him to be sure."