Staff Reporter:
President Donald Trump told CNN in a brief phone call Friday morning that the United States “of course” supports Israel and called the country’s strikes on Iran overnight “a very successful attack,” while warning Iran to make a nuclear deal.
When asked about a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday that sought to put distance between the US and the Israeli action, Trump told Dana Bash: “We of course support Israel, obviously, and supported it like nobody has ever supported it.”
The president went on to urge Iran to reach a deal.
“Iran should have listened to me when I said — you know, I gave them, I don’t know if you know but I gave them a 60-day warning and today is day 61,” he told CNN.
“They should now come to the table to make a deal before it’s too late. It will be too late for them. You know, the people I was dealing with are dead, the hardliners,” the president said. He would not specify which people he was referring to.
Trump is set to speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, according a US and an Israeli official.
The president had warned Iran earlier on Friday to agree to a nuclear deal “before there is nothing left,” suggesting in a social media post that subsequent Israeli attacks on the country will be “even more brutal.”
The post marked Trump’s first public comments since Israel launched strikes on Iran targeting its nuclear program and military leaders, with the US president saying he had tried to steer Iranian leaders toward diplomacy, but they failed to act at great cost.
“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done,” Trump wrote.
Trump wrote that Iranian leaders “didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!”
“There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left,” Trump added.
In contrast to Trump’s aggressive tone, Rubio clarified in a statement late Thursday that the US had no involvement in the strikes.
“Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio said.
The Trump administration is, meanwhile, still hoping that a sixth round of nuclear deal talks with the Iranians will take place in Oman on Sunday as previously scheduled, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was in touch with the Omanis overnight in an effort to keep the plans for this weekend on track, sources said. But those sources acknowledged that holding the talks this weekend is highly unlikely. Oman has facilitated the US-Iran talks to date.
Despite several rounds of talks between Iran and the US to thrash out a new nuclear deal, major sticking points remain, with Iran insisting on its right to nuclear enrichment. Trump said earlier this week that he’s grown less confident of being able to strike a deal, saying in an interview earlier this week that Tehran could be “delaying” an agreement.
Trump warned of possibility of ‘massive conflict’ in Middle East
Trump had warned earlier on Thursday of the possibility that “massive conflict” in the Middle East that could take place “soon.”
US officials were increasingly concerned that the risk of Israel striking Iran had risen after Tehran said on Thursday that it would ramp up its nuclear activities due to the International Atomic Energy Agency passing a resolution saying that the country was not in compliance with its non-proliferation commitments, senior US officials told CNN.
Questioned about a potential strike earlier on Thursday, Trump said it “could very well happen.”
“I don’t want to say imminent, but it’s something that could very well happen,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
US embassies in the Middle East carried out emergency action assessments this week, and that process is ongoing as the US monitors the threat environment in the region, the officials said.
Asked what the Israelis told him to prompt the departure of US personnel from the region, Trump replied: “They didn’t tell me anything, but I said look, there’s a chance of massive conflict.”
He described the deliberations that led him to the decision.
“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. 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.”
Later Thursday, Trump in a Truth Social post underscored his preference for diplomacy in Iran, saying his administration remains “committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue!”
Trump also said he does not want Israel to target Iran as negotiations on a potential nuclear deal continue, with a sixth round of talks set for Sunday in Oman.
“I want to have an agreement with Iran. We’re fairly close to an agreement. … 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 when asked about a potential Israeli strike.
