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US President Donald Trump has reportedly approved plans to attack Iran but is holding off on giving final orders on whether or not to strike the country as its conflict with Israel over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme intensifies.
The US president is holding off on giving the go-ahead for the attacks in case Iran decides to back off and surrender to his demands, according to a senior Trump aide who spoke to US media outlet The Wall Street Journal.
Trump has repeatedly called on Iran to unconditionally surrender its and abandon its nuclear programme amid a heated exchange of cross-border missile strikes with Israel.
The conflict, which has entered its seventh day, has claimed the lives of dozens of Israelis and hundreds of Iranians so far.
Asked on Wednesday on whether Washington plans to join Israel in attacking Iran, Trump gave a blunt response saying “I may do it, I may not do it”. Trump has even suggested that the US assassinating Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is not off the table.
The 47th US president claims that Washington knows where Khamenei is hiding but are not interested in killing him “for now”.
In a recorded speech, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected the US president’s calls to surrender, vowing to continue attacks and promising to carry out an intense “punitive operation” against Israel.
In the early hours of Thursday, Israel’s military warned people Thursday to evacuate the area around Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor.
The warning came in a social media post on X. It included a satellite image of the plant in a red circle like other warnings that preceded strikes.
The Israeli military said Thursday’s initial round of airstrikes targeted Tehran and other areas of Iran, without elaborating. It later said Iran fired a new salvo of missiles at Israel and told the public to take shelter.
Additional sources • AP
