President Donald Trump issued a message Thursday that Iran has “within the next two weeks” to negotiate with the United States.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt read a statement from Trump on Iran at the top of the press briefing a day after he said he “may” or “may not” order a strike on nuclear sites in Iran.
“Regarding the situation in Iran, I know there has been a lot of speculation amongst all of you in the media regarding the president’s decision-making and whether or not the United States will be directly involved,” she said.
“In light of that news, I have a message directly from the President … ‘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,” she said.
Correspondence between the United States and Iran has continued, according to Leavitt, and any deal would be centered on no uranium enrichment and Iran not being able to produce a nuclear weapon.
Leavitt also said that Iran currently has the capability to produce a nuclear weapon within weeks:
Let’s be very clear: Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon. All they need is a decision from the supreme leader to do that, and it would take a couple of weeks to complete the production of that weapon, which would of course, pose an existential threat not just to Israel, but to the United States and to the entire world. And that is something that the entire world, including countries like Russia, is in agreement with, that Iran should not and cannot obtain a nuclear weapon.
The briefing comes hours after Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that the Wall Street Journal “has no idea what” his thoughts on Iran are, following an anonymously-sourced article from the publication claiming he authorized “attack plans” but was withholding a final order.
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