President Trump on Thursday said that an Israeli attack on Iran “could very well happen,” but also insisted that he still wants a diplomatic solution with the Islamic Republic.
His comments came amid a series of media reports citing US officials who say Israel is poised to attack Iran. “I don’t want to say imminent, but it’s something that could very well happen,” the president told reporters.
While some reports say that the US is expecting Israel to launch an attack on its own without US support, CBS News reported that the Trump administration is weighing options regarding how to support Israeli military action.
Trump also explained his decision to order the evacuation of staff from the US embassy in Baghdad and encourage the voluntary departure of non-essential personnel across the region, warning that a “massive conflict could break out.”
“We have a lot of American people in this area, and I said, look, we gotta tell them to get out cause something could happen – soon. And I don’t want to be the one that didn’t give any warning and missiles are flying into their buildings. It’s possible. So I had to do it,” Trump said.
“So I had to do it. You know, I had the choice – do I do it or not? Doing it has its downside but it also has its upside, like you’re going to save a lot of lives if it should happen. Hopefully that doesn’t happen,” he added.
The president also said that he didn’t want Israel to attack Iran as long as he thought there was a chance of a deal. “As long as I think there is an agreement, I don’t want them going in because that would blow it. Might help it, actually, but also could blow it,” he said.
Later in the day, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he wanted a deal. “We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue! My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran,” he wrote.
Trump said in the post that Iran must “give up hopes of obtaining a Nuclear Weapon,” but there is no evidence that Tehran is trying to obtain nuclear weapons, which has been affirmed by US intelligence agencies.
The US and Iran appear to be at an impasse over Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. Trump has been demanding that it be dismantled altogether, which is a non-starter for Tehran. However, negotiations continue, and another round is scheduled to take place this Sunday, despite the tensions.
Trump has been threatening that the US would bomb Iran if a deal isn’t reached, and the threat of an Israeli attack also appears to be part of his pressure campaign. The threats prompted Iran’s defense minister to warn that Iranian missiles would hit US bases in the region if a “conflict is imposed” on Iran.
Axios reported that the US believes that if Israel bombs Iranian nuclear facilities, it would likely result in an Iranian attack on Israel that would overwhelm Israeli air defenses and cause mass casualties. Iran also has the ability to inflict mass casualties on American military personnel at the numerous US bases in the region.
