President Donald Trump has said “it’s possible” the United States could get involved in the conflict between Iran and Israel.
“We’re not involved in it,” Trump told ABC News’ Rachel Scott in remarks she read aloud on air. “It’s possible we could get involved, but we’re not involved at this moment.”
Israel launched an unprovoked attack on Iran on Friday, targeting the Islamic Republic’s main nuclear enrichment facilities in a bid to wipe out the program. The strikes killed the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, his military chief of staff, two nuclear scientists, and at least 12 civilians.
Earlier reports said that Israel had directly appealed to the U.S. to get involved with the conflict after launching the first round of strikes, but Trump declined to comment to ABC News on these claims.
Trump earlier this week vetoed Israel’s plan to assassinate the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two U.S. officials told the Associated Press.
The Trump administration has sought to distance itself from Israel’s strikes on Iran, without much success.
Those efforts have taken another complicated turn since the two U.S. officials also told the AP that the administration has been in “constant contact” with their Israeli counterparts over the past days.
The “constant contact” included direct talks between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the report said.
Iran and the U.S. had been trying to agree a deal, with Trump giving the Islamic Republic 60 days to forge an agreement.
But the talks hit a roadblock last week. Washington accused Tehran of “delaying” while Iranian officials said the Trump administration was not respecting its rights to enrich uranium at the grade needed to produce nuclear power or negotiating seriously on the issue of lifting sanctions.
It was earlier reported that Trump had asked Netanyahu to wait to strike Iran until all diplomatic options had been exhausted.
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