President Trump on Tuesday again threatened to restart the bombing campaign against Iran, saying the country will face a “big hit” if it doesn’t agree to US demands for a deal in the coming days.
“Well, I mean, I’m saying two or three days, maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday, something, maybe early next week, a limited period of time, because we can’t let them have a new nuclear weapon,” the president told reporters.
The latest threat came a day after he claimed he was “holding off” on plans to strike Iran on Tuesday due to requests from Gulf Arab states. He claimed on Tuesday that he was just an hour away from ordering the attack. “We were all set to go … It would have been happening right now,” he said.
There’s been no confirmation that the US was poised to attack Iran on Tuesday, and The Wall Street Journal reported that Gulf officials were not aware of plans for an imminent US attack. Earlier media reports said that Trump was set to meet with his top national security officials on Tuesday to discuss potential military operations.
The resumption of US-Israeli strikes on Iran still appears to be likely, as there’s no sign of progress in negotiations between Washington and Tehran, which is being mediated by Pakistan, as the two sides remain far apart on core issues.
Israeli media is reporting that Israel is expecting and planning to rejoin US strikes on Iran. According to Israel’s Channel 12, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting of his top military officials on Monday night to discuss the possibility, and he has canceled court testimony scheduled for Wednesday with no opposition from the prosecution.
