L to R: Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, US President Donald Trump against backdrop of respective flags and missile strikes.(photo credit: emarto from Getty Images, Kaboompics.com from Pexels, ILLUSTRATION, Shutterstock/lev radin, wikimedia commons, Hamid Amlashi/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS, e) via TJP
By Amichai Stein
US President Donald Trump has reportedly told Senior Aides that he approved of plans to attack Iran, but he is waiting to see if Iran will abandon its nuclear program before giving the final order, three sources familiar with the discussions said to the Wall Street Journal.
As previously reported by The Jerusalem Post, Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM) Gen. Michael Kurilla met with US President Donald Trump and presented him with military options regarding Iran.
The WSJ reported that when Trump was asked earlier if he had decided whether to strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities, the president said, “I may do it, I may not do it.”
He also repeated his insistence on Iran’s unconditional surrender: “The next week is going to be very big, maybe less than a week.”
On Wednesday, Trump reportedly arranged for a meeting with Iranian Foreign Ministry officials.
Talks on a ceasefire, Iran nuclear program
A senior Iranian official from the Foreign Ministry, who asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said that Iran would accept President Trump’s offer to meet soon, the NYT reported.
While the president said that the talks were to focus on Iran’s nuclear program, foreign ministry officials said that Iran was ready to discuss a ceasefire with Israel.
Officials had previously told the Post that the Islamic Republic was willing to negotiate a ceasefire, but it wanted Israel to “calm things down.”
On Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected Trump’s demand for unconditional surrender, as Iranians jammed the highways out of Tehran, fleeing from intensified Israeli airstrikes.
He warned that if US attacked Iran, the United States “without doubt will face irreparable harm.”
Putin weighs in on Israel-Iran War
Later on Wednesday evening, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he believed that the hostilities between Iran and Israel should cease.
He also noted that Russia had conveyed its ideas on how to stop the conflict from escalating to its partners in the region.
“It seems to me that it would be right for everyone to look for ways to end hostilities and find ways for all parties to this conflict to come to an agreement with each other,” Putin said.
“In my opinion, in general, such a solution can be found.”
The Kremlin chief previously suggested that Russia could mediate talks between Israel and Iran. Still, Trump said that he would not accept the efforts until the Kremlin agreed to negotiate on the war in Ukraine.
Putin also said that he “did not even want to discuss” the possibility that Israel would eliminate Khamenei, and told Reuters editors that he believed that Iranians were rallying around their leadership.
“We see that today in Iran, with all the complexity of the internal political processes taking place there…that there is a consolidation of society around the country’s political leadership,” Putin told Russian reporters.
The Kremlin chief noted that Russia had supplied the Islamic Republic with military hardware, but he alleged that it was not linked to the current war and that it was not in breach of international law. He also noted that a strategic partnership treaty he had signed with Tehran in January did not envisage military cooperation.
He also said Iran’s underground uranium enrichment facilities were still intact.
“These underground factories, they exist, nothing has happened to them,” Putin said, adding that all sides should seek a resolution that ensured the interests of both Iran and Israel.
“In this regard, it seems to me that it would be right for everyone to look for ways to end hostilities and find ways for all parties to this conflict to come to an agreement with each other in order to ensure both Iran’s interests, on the one hand, for its nuclear activities, including peaceful nuclear activities, of course (I mean peaceful nuclear energy and the peaceful atom in other areas), as well as to ensure the interests of Israel from the point of view of the unconditional security of the Jewish state.”
Putin noted that Russia has approximately 250 nationals in Iran working within the nuclear power plants, and that he had spoken with Israeli officials to ensure their security.
“We’re not leaving. Isn’t that support? Iran has not asked us for any other support,” he said. – Reuters via TJP
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