PRESIDENT Donald Trump has continued to offer mixed signals about whether the United States would directly intervene in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, which has seen six days of intense bombing.
The Republican leader began his Wednesday on the White House lawn, where he installed two giant flagpoles, each 88 feet — or 27 metres — high.
During that appearance, however, he was confronted with the question looming over the Middle East conflict: Would the US join Israel in striking Iran’s nuclear facilities?
“You don’t know that I’m going to even do it,” Trump told one reporter. “I may do it. I may not do it. Nobody knows what I’m going to do. I can tell you this: Iran’s got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate.”
Later, as he posed for photographs in the Oval Office with the Juventus football club, Trump once again signalled he had not made up his mind — and was unlikely to do so until the last possible moment.
“ I have ideas as to what to do, but I haven’t made a final [call],” Trump said.
“I like to make a final decision one second before it’s due, you know? Because things change, especially with war. Things change with war. It can go from one extreme to the other.”
That ambiguity over whether the US may enter the fray has fed uncertainty within the conflict — and led to controversy on the domestic front for Trump.
Some Republicans and Democrats have introduced legislation to limit Trump’s ability to engage in the fighting between Iran and Israel. Meanwhile, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson has published a video interview he recorded with right-wing Senator Ted Cruz, where the two Trump supporters sparred over whether the US should push for regime change in Iran.
Trump himself was asked to weigh in on their debate on Wednesday from the Oval Office. The president signalled that he was sympathetic to Carlson’s desire to keep the US out of a costly foreign conflict — but with a caveat.
“I don’t want to fight either. I’m not looking to fight,” Trump said. “But if it’s a situation between fighting and them having a nuclear weapon, you have to do what you have to do. Maybe we won’t have to fight. Don’t forget: We haven’t been fighting.”
The Trump administration has described Israel’s initial strike on June 13 as a “unilateral action”. But the president himself has signalled that he knew of the attack in advance and supported Israel’s military campaign.
In testimony to Congress, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers that the US military would be ready if called upon.
“President Trump’s word means something. The world understands that,” Hegseth said. “And at the Defense Department, our job is to stand ready and prepared with options. And that’s precisely what we’re doing.”
