Trump Denies Approving Iran Attack, Issues Two Weeks Ultimatum to Iran Over Israel's War
The heated split in the Make America Great Again coalition over support for a strike on Iran appeared to be cooling as Dobald Trump has openly denied giving an approval to attack Iran over its ongoing conflict with Israel
By: Olufemi Orunsola
US President, Donald Trump, has denied giving any approval to attack Iran, rather, he issued a deadline of two weeks to decide if US will join Israel’s war on Iran.
OPEN TELEVISION NAIJA (OTN) News reports as gathered from monitored international media sources that Trump has denied a report in the Wall Street Journal which claimed that he has approved US plans to attack Iran, saying that the news outlet has “no idea” what his thinking is concerning the Israel-Iran conflict.
OTN News further reports that Trump, who announced that Trump had responded to the Wall Street Journal report, posting on Truth Social: “The Wall Street Journal has No Idea what my thoughts are concerning Iran!”
OTN News observes that Trump’s position was further confirmed, later on Thursday, through his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who announced that he’d be making a decision within the “next two weeks”.
Earlier, a mid week report by the Journal, citing anonymous official, claimed that Trump told senior aides a day earlier that he had approved attack plans but was delaying on giving the final order to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear programme.
Meanwhile, debate within Trump’s cabinet and Pentagon chiefs over the effectiveness of the GBU-57s, a 13.6-tonne (30,000lb) bomb, was echoed in Guardian reporting, with Trump reportedly unconvinced of the bomb’s efficacy in destroying the complex and the possibility that direct US involvement could be forestalled by negotiations with Iran.
A White House press call on Thursday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered a message that, she said, came directly from the president and is attributable to him.
“Based on the fact 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,” Leavitt said.
However, Iran’s mission to the UN has issued a statement saying: “Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance.”
In the meantime, there are ucertainties aabout direct US involvement in the conflict, as the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called Trump “a great friend of Israel” and thanked him “for standing by us”.
The Pentagon has sent multiple warships to the Middle East, including three navy destroyers and two carrier strike groups, while the state department has ramped up assistance to US citizens advised to leave the region.
Trump’s denial of the Journal’s report comes as a heated split in the Make America Great Again coalition over support for a strike on Iran appeared to be cooling.
The former Fox primetime host Tucker Carlson and former White House political strategist Steve Bannon had expressed concerns that another Middle East military engagement in Iran would run counter to Maga’s “America first” policies.
Bannon said on Wednesday that Trump could win over Maga doubters if he made the case for Iran engagement directly to the American people. Trump also said that Carlson called him to apologize for saying that he “is complicit in an act of war”.
‘Tucker’s a nice guy. He called and apologized the other day because he thought he said things that were a little bit too strong, and I appreciated that,” Trump was quoted to have said on Wednesday from the White House.
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