TRUMP ISSUES TWO-WEEK ULTIMATUM TO IRAN TO AVOID U.S. AIRSTRIKES

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Agency report

President Donald Trump on Friday warned that Iran had no more than two weeks to avert potential U.S. airstrikes, suggesting he might take action even before the two-week deadline he previously outlined.

He also stated that he had no intention of discouraging Israel from continuing its offensive against Iran, saying Israel was “winning,” and downplayed European attempts at brokering peace in the escalating conflict.

“I’m giving them a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum,” Trump told reporters when asked if he could decide to strike Iran before that.

He added that the aim was to “see whether or not people come to their senses.”

Trump had said in a statement on Thursday that he would “make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks” because there was a “substantial chance of negotiations” with Iran.

Trump’s earlier comments were widely interpreted as allowing a two-week window for diplomatic negotiations to end the conflict between Israel and Iran, prompting a flurry of talks between European powers and Tehran.

However, his most recent statements suggest he may act sooner if he believes Iran is not making meaningful progress toward dismantling its nuclear program.

He also brushed aside the meeting held in Geneva on Friday between Iran’s foreign minister and representatives from Britain, France, Germany, and the EU.

Europe ‘didn’t help’

“They didn’t help,” he said as he arrived in Morristown, New Jersey, ahead of a fundraising dinner at his nearby golf club.

“Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said after the talks in Geneva that Tehran would not resume negotiations with the United States until Israel stopped its attacks.

But Trump was reluctant.

“It’s very hard to make that request right now,” Trump said.

“If somebody’s winning, it’s a little bit harder to do than if somebody’s losing, but we’re ready, willing and able, and we’ve been speaking to Iran, and we’ll see what happens.”

Trump meanwhile doubled down on his claims that Iran is weeks away from being able to produce a nuclear bomb, despite divisions in his own administration about the intelligence behind his assessment.

Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, said in a report in March that Iran was not close to having enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon.

“She’s wrong,” Trump said of Gabbard, a longtime opponent of US foreign intervention whom Trump tapped to coordinate the sprawling US spy community.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.