President Donald Trump relayed a message on the Middle East conflict through White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday, saying that he would decide whether to strike Iran “within the next two weeks.”
Trump has backed Israel’s airstrikes on Iran that have taken out some of the radical Islamic regime’s nuclear facilities and military leaders, while urging the Ayatollah to come to the negotiating table. The president has not ruled out direct U.S. military action against Iran, and even said that the United States knows “exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding.” Leavitt addressed the speculation surrounding the president’s thinking on conflict, reading a statement from Trump in the Briefing Room.
“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,” the president stated in his message.
.@PressSec shares a message from President Trump: "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." pic.twitter.com/r3yVnbZHAC
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 19, 2025
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that “nobody knows” what his thinking is on a potential U.S. strike on Iran, adding, “I may do it, I may not do it.” The president later said that Iran was only “a few weeks away” from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“I’m not looking to fight, but if it’s a choice between fighting and having a nuclear weapon, you have to do what you have to do,” Trump said. “Maybe we won’t have to fight. Maybe it will end very quickly.”
The president said earlier this week that Iran made a mistake by refusing to make a deal with the United States.
“I’d say Iran is not winning this war, and they should talk, and they should talk immediately, before it’s too late,” he said on Monday.
Leavitt added on Thursday that the Trump administration has continued “correspondence” with Iran.
White House confirms that the United States has continued to be in correspondence with the Iranian regime. pic.twitter.com/KUgj46Q2Af
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) June 19, 2025
Iran escalated the conflict on Thursday with a direct airstrike on an Israeli hospital, a move that Israel Health Minister Uriel Buso called an “act of terrorism and a crossing of a red line.”
Some reports suggest that Israel wants the United States to get directly involved in the conflict, so that the U.S. military can take out Iran’s Fordow nuclear site, which is built nearly 300 feet underground. Only America’s B-2 Bombers have the ability to drop a “bunker buster” bomb that could take out the Fordow plant in a single strike.