President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he is still considering whether to allow American bombers to strike an Iranian underground nuclear facility in support of Israel’s effort to cripple the Islamic Republic’s long-running nuclear weapons program.
But he warned that a decision could happen in the next few days.
The president was speaking to reporters during an impromptu press conference as he toured the installation site for a massive flagpole on the White House’s South Lawn when he was asked whether he was moving closer to a decision on striking the Iranian facilities, which can only be hit by specially-made American bunker busting munitions.
In response, he scoffed at the idea that he’d reveal his plans to the press ahead of time.
“You don’t know that I’m going to even do it. You don’t know. I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he said. “I can tell you this, that Iran’s got a lot of trouble.”
Trump said Iranian leaders now want to open negotiations with him to head off U.S. involvement in Israel’s military campaign, but he said the time for such talks would have been “two weeks ago.”
Continuing, the president said Iran had harbored “bad intentions” with its’ nuclear weapons program and complained that the regime had been “schoolyard bullies” in the region — until Israel’s campaign of airstrikes took out much of Tehran’s capabilities.
“Now they’re not bullies anymore, but we’ll see what happens,” Trump said.
He added that war is “very complex” and “a lot of bad things can happen” but he also said “we” — a reference to Israel and the United States “sure as hell made a lot of progress” thus far, with more to come.
“The next week is going to be very big, maybe less than a week, maybe less,” he said. “But is there anybody here that said it would be okay to have to have a hostile country have a nuclear weapon? This is just not a threat you can have. And we’ve been threatened by Iran for many years,” he said.
The president’s comments come less than a day after he took to social media to demand that Iranian forces unconditionally lay down their arms as he issued a thinly veiled threat that American forces may target Iran’s head of state if the Islamic Republic doesn’t cease targeting Israeli civilians — or targets any American forces in the region.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that the U.S. “know exactly where” Iran’s “so-called Supreme Leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is “hiding” and described him as an “easy target” who is currently “safe” in his current location.
“We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers,” the president continued before adding: “Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
In a second post moments later, he added another two-word demand: “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
When Israel began striking Iranian targets last week, multiple administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, stressed that the U.S. was not participating and maintained that American forces in the region were being deployed in what has been described as a defensive posture.
But Trump is now considering throwing American forces into the fray by joining the Israeli effort to take down Tehran’s nuclear program.
While Israeli forces have reported significant successes in taking out numerous targets associated with Iranian atomic weapons research and development, one obstacle that remains is the Fordow enrichment facility, located deep inside a mountain near the city of Qom.
Because the facility is deep underground, successfully destroying it would require dropping so-called “bunker-buster” munitions into the facility from heavy bomber aircraft.
Destroying the Fordow facility would likely involve use of a B-2 stealth bomber to drop a Massive Ordnance Penetrator, known by the Air Force designation GBU-57A/B.
The 30,000 pound projectile was designed specifically to attack and destroy hardened facilities such as Fordow, especially those that could house weapons of mass destruction.
Because those planes are based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, such a mission would require a 30-plus hour round trip and support from numerous in-air refueling tankers.
As Trump considers whether to green-light those airstrikes, U.S. defense officials have ordered the USS Nimitz carrier group, including five Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers and other support ships along with an entire carrier-based air wing, to depart the South China Sea and join the USS Carl Vinson strike group deployed in the Arabian Sea.
The aging nuclear-powered vessel is part of a wider buildup of firepower that has seen dozens of U.S. Air Force refueling planes transfer to Europe, two destroyers in the Mediterranean move closer to Israel, and military families at U.S. bases in the Middle East given permission to fly home for their safety.
Separately, the State Department updated a travel advisory for Israel, Gaza and the West Bank territory to “do not travel” as casualties mount on both sides of Israel’s escalating war with Iran.
“The security situation in Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem is unpredictable, and U.S. citizens are reminded to remain vigilant and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness as security incidents, including mortar and rocket fire and armed UAV intrusions and missiles, can take place without warning,” the advisory said.
