The US on Thursday reiterated its intention to hit Iran, with its envoy to the UN stating US President Donald Trump was "a man of action" and said "all options are on the table." The statement comes amid reports that Trump was having second thoughts about launching an attack on the Islamic Republic.
However, a report that appeared on Thursday night in the New York Times stated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressured Trump to postpone the planned attack. The report noted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally requested Trump to reconsider the attack plan. White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt confirmed that a conversation did take place between the two, but refused to comment on the content of the conversation.
According to the report, Netanyahu spoke with Trump on Wednesday - the same day that the US president said he received information from "very important sources on the other side" that Iran had stopped killing protesters and was not continuing executions. This seems to indicate that Trump is backing down from a possible US attack on Iran, which he has been considering for days.
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Trump was informed by Netanyahu that an attack on Iran would not necessarily lead to the fall of the regime and that the army needed additional forces. Sources later told Fox News that various levels of U.S. forces and aircraft carriers are being moved to the Middle East.
Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said tonight that "I spoke with the Iranians yesterday, and we were concerned about the mass hangings of protesters. The president announced that it was canceled, and it will not take place."
"I hope there is a diplomatic solution to the Iranian issue," Witkoff continued. "Uranium enrichment, ballistic missiles, they have to reduce their stockpile, and their proxies, Iran is in a serious economic problem, a lot of problems, if they want to return to the family of nations, they have to solve this diplomatically because the alternative is very bad."
According to reports, the US realised that the price of the attack would be heavier than they thought, and decided in the meantime to return to the diplomatic channel, partly out of the understanding that the counter-reaction would harm American bases, Israel, and the energy industry in the Gulf. The problem of the protest's leadership and the security apparatus's loyalty to the Iranian regime also contributed to the decision, as did the Netanyahu-Trump conversation, in which the Prime Minister said that the timing was not right.
White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt confirmed that “Trump did speak with Netanyahu”. “The truth is that only Trump knows what he is going to do, and a small team of advisers. He continues to monitor and understands that as a result of his words, 800 executions were canceled and lives were saved, and he will continue to make sure that happens."
President Donald Trump said tonight that any military action against Iran would be swift and decisive. According to the sources, the president told his advisers that if such an action were taken, he expected it to deal a decisive blow to the Iranian regime.
At the same time as the report, Trump gave an interview to the Reuters news agency, in which he said that "the regime in Iran may collapse," but added, "Any regime can fall. Whether it happens or not, it is going to be an interesting time."
