US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will decide whether to attack Iran within a fortnight, as Israel and its regional rival continued to trade fire for a seventh day.
“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 out by his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
Al Jazeera’s senior analyst Marwan Bishara took the recent statement with doubt, saying, “He could use that as a pretext to camouflage whatever his intentions are and attack tomorrow.”
Trump had renewed his commitment to diplomacy with Iran hours before the Israeli strikes began last week.
Bishara said the US president could also be pausing his decision to allow talks between Iranian and European officials tomorrow and see where they may lead.
“If one has to over-interpret, I would say the following: He’s giving the Europeans some time so that everyone could save face,” he said.
Trump was noncommittal Wednesday morning about a potential strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities: He dodged a question about whether he’s moving closer to ordering a strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
“I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” Trump told reporters. “I can tell you this, that Iran’s got a lot of trouble. And they want to negotiate. And I say, ‘Why didn’t you negotiate with me before all this death and destruction?’”
