US president waiting to see if Iran will abandon its nuclear program, Wall Street Journal newspaper reports
US President Donald Trump has told senior officials that he has approved plans to attack Iran, but has yet to give the final order to carry them out, according to a report published Wednesday.
Trump is waiting to see if Iran will abandon its nuclear program, The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported, citing anonymous people familiar with the matter. It said that Tehran's Fordow enrichment facility, buried deep under a mountain, is a potential target, but striking it would require the most powerful weapons in the US arsenal.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump told reporters that he had not yet made up his mind as to whether he would authorize the military to join Israel's ongoing campaign against Iran, saying, "I may do it. I may not do it."
"I don't want to fight either. I'm not looking to fight. But if it's a choice between fighting and them having a nuclear weapon, you have to do what you have to do, and maybe we won't have to fight," he said in the Oval Office. “I have ideas as to what to do. I like to make a final decision one second before it's due."
Trump said the next week would be "very big" as he mulls his decision, saying doing so might take less time.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier rejected Trump's demand that his government unconditionally surrender and warned that any direct US involvement in the conflict with Israel will have “irreparable consequences.”
“The Zionist entity (Israel) has made a grave mistake and will face consequences,” Khamenei said in a televised speech.
He said that Iran will not forgive the violation of the country's airspace or the blood of its “martyrs.”
Regional tensions have escalated since Friday, when Israel launched airstrikes on multiple sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes.
Israeli authorities said at least 24 people have been killed and hundreds injured since then in Iranian missile attacks.
Meanwhile, in Iran, 585 people have been killed and more than 1,300 wounded in the Israeli assault, according to Iranian media reports.
Trump said he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "keep going" with his attacks but added that he has not given Israel any indication that he would aid the effort any more than he already has.
