Trump Signals Holding Off Iran Strike to Give Diplomacy Time

President Donald Trump will decide within two weeks whether to strike Iran, his spokeswoman said, as Israel hit more Iranian nuclear sites and warned its attacks may bring down the leadership in Tehran.

“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Trump said in a dictated message, according to White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

Trump, who is scheduled to attend a national security meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, has publicly mused for days about having the US increase the stakes by joining Israel’s strikes on Iran. His latest stance signals a step back after a run of tough rhetoric, including demands for residents of Tehran to evacuate, and his early departure from this week’s Group of Seven summit in Canada to return to Washington.

Declines in US equity futures eased after Leavitt’s comments, while shares in Japan, China and Australia held to tight ranges. Brent crude fell as much as 2.7 percent on Friday, still about 11 percent higher than the close on June 12.

Trump for years has had a penchant for setting two-week deadlines, sometimes following through and at other times missing them or never acting at all, making “within two weeks” a stock phrase for pending decisions in both his White House terms.

Trump’s goal – halting Iranian enrichment of uranium and preventing the country from obtaining nuclear weapons – remains intact, though “if there’s a chance for diplomacy, the president is always going to grab it,” Leavitt said.

Senior US officials have been preparing for the possibility of a strike on Iran, people familiar with the matter have said, with some pointing to potential plans for a weekend strike. Top leaders at a handful of federal agencies have begun getting ready for an attack, one person said.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Friday that it completed a series of strikes in Tehran, hitting dozens of targets, according to a Telegram post. They included missile production sites and the headquarters for research and development of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the IDF said.

A missile from Iran hit an Israeli hospital Thursday for the first time since the war began, underscoring the risks to civilians on both sides. Israel’s Health Ministry reported light injuries at the Soroka Medical Center in the country’s south, saying the missile landed in a department that had been evacuated.

Israel said Iran used a missile with a warhead that broke into dozens of submunitions that scattered widely before exploding on the ground.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier Thursday that while Israel’s military objective remains the destruction of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, “we may create the conditions” to help change the government. 

Asked whether that means targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Netanyahu said “no one is immune.”

Netanyahu later told Israel’s Kan TV that Israel has hit more than half of Iran’s missile launchers. “It doesn’t matter that much how many missiles they have,” he said. “What matters is how many launchers they have.”

Israeli warplanes struck dozens of military targets in Iran overnight, including an inactive nuclear reactor in the area of Arak. Arak has long been the focus of international scrutiny due to its potential role in making plutonium, which could be used in future nuclear-weapon production if reprocessing capabilities were developed.

European governments made the case for diplomacy, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer calling on Trump to keep the door open to resuming talks on Iran’s nuclear program. 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Thursday at the White House with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who plans to join the French and German foreign ministers for talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday. 

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani held separate phone calls with Rubio and Araghchi on Thursday, according to the ministry in Rome. Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, called for an end to hostilities and a return to dialog. 

Araghchi said Wednesday that Iran remains “committed to diplomacy” and has never sought and would never seek nuclear weapons. Khamenei said the same day he wouldn’t surrender.