President Donald Trump expressed hope that the Iranian nuclear crisis could be resolved without Israel needing to carry out a military strike against Tehran.
While signing a series of executive orders in the Oval Office, Trump was asked by reporters whether he would support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Initially, Trump declined to answer, saying, “I’m not going to answer that,” before adding that he would soon be meeting with several senior officials on the issue.
“Hopefully that can be worked out without having to worry about it. It would really be nice if that could be worked out without having to go that further step,” he continued.
“Iran will hopefully make a deal, and if they don’t make a deal that’s okay too,” he stated.
Recently, his administration had signaled its desire to pursue a diplomatic agreement with Iran to limit its nuclear program, rather than resorting to military action.
Some in Israel had expected that Trump’s return to the White House would lead to the U.S. supporting or even carrying out an attack on Iranian nuclear sites alongside Israel.
Trump had previously criticized President Biden for publicly advising Israel not to strike Iranian oil and nuclear sites in response to Tehran’s ballistic missile attack the previous year. Trump had argued that Biden should not have made such a public statement about Israel’s potential actions.
{Matzav.com}