Trump: I wouldn’t say I waved off Israeli plan to attack Iran, but I’m not in a rush

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he was in no rush to greenlight strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the day after a New York Times story revealed he had quashed an Israeli proposal for a joint attack next month.

Trump’s partial confirmation of the Times report came as Iranian and allied officials prepared for a second round of talks with the US on Saturday aimed at reaching a diplomatic agreement surrounding the Iranian nuclear program. Oman confirmed on Thursday that the talks would take place in Rome, putting to bed earlier Iranian claims that the talks would again be held in Muscat.

Asked about the report that he had “waved off” an Israeli plan to attack the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites next month, Trump said, “I wouldn’t say ‘waved off.’”

But then he added, “I’m not in a rush to do it,” indicating a degree of confirmation of the report.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office alongside Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Trump said, “Iran has a chance to have a great country, and to live happily without death, and I’d like to see that. That’s my first option.”

“If there’s a second option,” he went on, “I think it would be very bad for Iran, and I think Iran is wanting to talk. I hope they’re wanting to talk. It’s going to be very good for them if they do. Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon. It’s pretty simple.”

The Islamic Republic, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only, but it enriches uranium to levels far beyond any civilian use and obstructs inspectors from visiting its nuclear sites.

PM touts ‘countless’ acts against Iran’s nuclear program

In his response to the Times story, earlier Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touted his “countless” actions against Iran’s nuclear program, but did not deny that Trump had blocked a strike.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu has led, for more than a decade, the global campaign against Iran’s nuclear program, including when some people downplayed the threat or called it a ‘political spin,’ or the prime minister ‘paranoid’,” his office said in a statement.

“The prime minister has led countless actions, overt and covert, in the campaign against Iran’s nuclear program — and only because of [those actions], Iran does not have a nuclear weapon in its arsenal today.”

“These actions have delayed Iran’s nuclear program by about a decade, thanks to the determination of the prime minister to stand up to major opposition, at home and abroad, to his aggressive policy toward Iran,” the statement said.

“As the prime minister has said more than once: Israel will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon,” the statement concluded.

Heart of the secret

Channel 12 on Thursday night quoted a senior Israeli security official as bristling at the leak to The New York Times, which included details on the planned attack and its timing, and warning it was likely to harm ties between Jerusalem and Washington.

“The details that were leaked are dramatic, and [the leak is] likely to harm the intimate relations with the US Administration,” the sources were quoted as saying.

“The core of the secret as regards Iran was revealed,” the officials said, in reference to the planned attack, including “the method by which it would be carried out, the timing, coordination mechanisms, and the element of surprise. This constitutes real damage to Israeli interests in facing Iran.”

The network also cited unnamed Israeli diplomats who warned the US and Iran could be “galloping to a bad deal, within a short timeframe.”

According to the Times report, initial plans for the strike would have combined a joint Israeli-American bombing campaign with Israeli commando raids on underground nuclear sites, and included US airstrikes to protect the teams on the ground.

But such an operation would have required months of planning. Israeli and American officials, particularly Netanyahu, wanted to expedite the process. So the commando idea was shelved, and “Israeli and American officials began discussing a plan for an extensive bombing campaign.”

The campaign would have started in early May and lasted more than a week, the report said, beginning with eliminating what remained of Iran’s air defense systems after Israel destroyed parts of the array during strikes in the country last year. This would pave the way for Israeli fighters to directly strike nuclear sites. Such an attack would have likely prompted Iran to launch a retaliatory missile barrage at Israel, requiring US assistance to fend it off.

The Kan public broadcaster reported Thursday, however, that Israel believes the US leaked the information in order to pressure Iran in the negotiations.

Bunker-busters

Kan also reported that, despite Trump’s veto on a joint attack in May, the US has continued in recent days to send Israel huge shipments of ammunition, including bunker-buster bombs intended to make possible a strike on Iran’s nuclear sites.

In just the previous 24 hours, the network reported Thursday night, nine military transport planes had arrived at the Nevatim airbase in southern Israel, carrying hundreds of bombs, including bunker-busters, to allow a strike if negotiations fail.

Earlier this week, Kan reported that dozens of American planes had been arriving in Israel carrying heavy MK84 bombs and interceptor missiles for the THAAD air defense system.

Russians and Saudis

Iran also continued to maneuver for influence ahead of the talks.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sent his foreign minister Abbas Araghchi to Moscow on Thursday with a letter for President Vladimir Putin to brief the Kremlin about nuclear negotiations with the US.

Russia, a longstanding ally of Tehran, plays a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the West as a veto-wielding UN Security Council member and a signatory to an earlier nuclear deal Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.

“Regarding the nuclear issue, we always had close consultations with our friends China and Russia. Now it is a good opportunity to do so with Russian officials,” Araghchi told Iranian state television.

He said he was conveying a letter to Putin that addressed regional and bilateral issues. Putin later received Araghchi in the Kremlin.

Moscow has bought weapons from Iran for the war in Ukraine and signed a 20-year strategic partnership deal with Tehran earlier this year, although it did not include a mutual defense clause. The two countries were battlefield allies in Syria for years until their ally Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December.

Putin has kept on good terms with Khamenei as both Russia and Iran are cast as enemies by the West, but Moscow is keen not to trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

Russia has said that any military strike against Iran would be illegal and unacceptable. On Tuesday, the Kremlin declined to comment when asked if Russia was ready to take control of Iran’s stocks of enriched uranium as part of a possible future nuclear deal between Iran and the United States.

Meanwhile, Saudi Defense Minister Prince Kahlid bin Salman arrived in Tehran on Thursday, for meetings with officials ahead of the talks.

The defense minister delivered a message from Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz to Supreme Leader Khamenei, Iran’s state media reported, without giving further details about the content of the message.

“Our belief is that the relationship between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia is beneficial for both countries,” Iranian state media cited Khamenei as saying in the meeting. Khamenei voiced Tehran’s readiness to overcome obstacles in the way of improving ties with Riyadh.

Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed in a 2023 deal brokered by China to re-establish relations after years of hostility that had threatened stability and security in the Gulf and helped fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria.

Saudi Arabia welcomed Iran’s nuclear talks with the US, saying it supported efforts to resolve regional and international disputes, in a statement published by the country’s official news agency on Saturday.

“Ties between the Saudi and Iranian armed forces have been improving since the Beijing agreement,” Iran’s armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri said after meeting the Saudi minister in Tehran, according to Iranian state media.