US President Donald Trump has said he is considering a limited military strike on Iran in order to pressure its leaders to agree a deal to curb the nuclear programme.
The president made the remark in response to a question from a journalist hours after officials had suggested the possibility of a strike.
On Thursday, Trump said the world would find out “over the next, probably, 10 days” whether a deal would be reached or the US would take military action. The US has been increasing its military presence in the region in recent weeks.
The US and its European allies suspect that Iran is moving towards the development of a nuclear weapon, something Iran has always denied.
US and Iranian officials have met over the issue in Switzerland and said progress has been made in the talks.
Speaking on Friday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran was preparing “a draft of a possible agreement” and would hand it over to US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in the next few days.
The talks in Geneva were held as American forces continued ramping up their presence in the vicinity of Iran.
The deployment includes the world’s largest warship, USS Gerald R Ford, appearing to be heading towards the region.
USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is also being deployed, joining an increase of destroyers, combat ships and fighter jets.
Satellite images have also shown that Iran has reinforced military facilities, and the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, has posted messages to social media threatening US forces.
“The US President constantly says that the US has sent a warship toward Iran. Of course, a warship is a dangerous piece of military hardware,” one of Khamenei’s posts read.
Trump takes questions from journalists several times a week - often in lengthy sessions in the Oval Office or on Air Force One - but his comments do not necessarily always translate into concrete actions, and often contradict each other.
He is fond of reminding reporters that he prefers to keep his intentions to himself and a small circle of insiders to avoid potential adversaries knowing his next moves.
“I’m not going to talk to you about that,” he snapped at a reporter on Thursday when asked about potential military action. “We’re going to make a deal or get a deal one way or the other.”
Even if an operation is carried out, Trump has so far yet to specify what the precise military objective would be, with US officials having reportedly presented him with a wide range of options for what could be a weeks-long campaign.
In the past, Trump has also used deadlines to achieve an element of surprise.
At the time of Operation Midnight Hammer in July last year - which saw US forces strike Iranian nuclear facilities - White House officials were still publicly discussing the possibility of successful talks.
The day before US missiles and bombs struck the facility, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read a statement from Trump in which he said that because “negotiations 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”.
Any strikes in the near future would come at a challenging time domestically for the Trump administration, with polls showing that a growing number of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration and the economy.
Unlike the one-day strike in Iran last year and the quick operation to capture Nicolás Maduro in January, a protracted, multi-week conflict with Iran threatens alienating parts of Trump’s Maga base which were drawn to his campaign promise of an end to messy foreign entanglements.
Source: BBC
--Agencies
