US President says it’s “very hard” to ask Israel to stop Iran airstrikes while they’re winning, adds his two-week period for Iran is to see if “people come to their senses”.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that it would be difficult to stop Israel from attacking Iran.
Speaking to reporters, Trump was asked about comments made by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said that if the US is serious about negotiations, Trump would call Israel and request that they stop their airstrikes.
“Well, I think it’s very hard to make that request right now. If somebody’s winning, it’s a little bit harder to do than if somebody’s losing. But we’re ready, willing, and able, and we’ve been speaking to Iran, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump replied.
Asked whether the Europeans helped in their discussions with Iran on Friday, the President stated, “No, they didn’t help. Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this.”
Trump was also asked about White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s statement on Thursday that he would decide within two weeks about joining the Israeli strikes on Iran and said the two-week period is “time to see whether or not people come to their senses.”
To the question of whether he could strike Iran before two weeks are up, Trump replied, “I’m giving them a period of time. We’re going to see what that period of time is. But I’m giving them a period of time. And I would say two weeks would be the maximum.”
Trump also indicated that Israel would not be able to take out Iran’s Fordow underground nuclear facility on its own.
“They really have a very limited capacity. They could break through a little section, but they can’t go down very deep. They don’t have that capacity,” he stated.
