Live updates: Trump mum on plans for Iran as leader warns of 'irreparable damage' if US joins conflict
President Trump on Wednesday wouldn't answer directly a question about whether the U.S. would attack Iran but urged the nation to make a deal.
“I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do. I can tell you this, that Iran’s got a lot of trouble. And they want to negotiate. And I say why didn’t you negotiate with me before all this death and destruction," he said outside the White House.
Hours earlier, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Wednesday said the United States will face "irreparable damage" if Trump joins the conflict and approves strikes against his country, rejecting the call a day earlier for "unconditional surrender."
"It isn’t wise to tell the Iranian nation to surrender," he said in a post on X. "What should the Iranian nation surrender to? We will never surrender in response to the attacks of anyone. This is the logic of the Iranian nation. This is the spirit of the Iranian nation."
Trump on Tuesday called for Iran's unconditional surrender on Tuesday and in another post said "we" could take out "[kill]" Khamenei himself. Trump's use of "we" during a bombing campaign that has only involved Israel did not go unnoticed.
Israel said Wednesday it continued to land "significant blows" against Iran, hitting 40 different sites, Israel Defense Forces said.
Trump faces a difficult decision if he does go forward with actions, since the MAGA world is divided on the matter. Some criticism is coming from the likes of pundit Tucker Carlson, who engaged in a beef with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) over Iran on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, after a swearing-in ceremony, Trump meets with the Pakistani army's chief of staff at the White House.
On Capitol Hill, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth returns to the Senate for a budget hearing, and is sure to get questions on Iran, as well as the deployment of U.S. military to quell domestic protests.
And Senate Republicans are wrestling over the megabill that funds Trump's agenda. Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is receiving strong pushback from members of the his conference over the Finance Committee’s piece of the legislation, which largely ignores GOP senators’ concerns about Medicaid cuts and the quick phaseout of clean-energy tax credits.
Catch up here:
- MAGA divide over Iran splinters Trump allies
- Senate GOP leader faces pushback after members blindsided by Trump bill
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