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Trump on Iran strikes: ‘I may do it, I may not do it’

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was still deciding whether to join Israel’s strikes on Iran, claiming Tehran now wants talks at the White House but may have waited too long.Trump held his second Situation Room meeting in two days with his national security team as he left the world guessing about his potential order of military action.”I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” Trump told reporters at the unveiling of one of two giant new flagpoles at the White House.”I can tell you this, that Iran’s got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate.”He added that “the next week is going to be very big” when it comes to determining Iran’s fate.The White House said Trump would be briefed in the Situation Room again on Thursday, a holiday in the United States.Trump’s comments came after the Islamic republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected his demands for an unconditional surrender and warned the United States of “irreparable damage” if it intervenes.A day after saying Khamenei was an “easy target”, Trump told AFP in the Oval Office that a change of leadership in Tehran “could happen.”But Republican Trump, who faces opposition from the isolationist wing of his support base to joining any more foreign wars, insisted that he had not yet made up his mind on whether to take US action.”I have ideas as to what to do, but I haven’t made a final (decision),” Trump said. “I like to make the final decision one second before it’s due, because things change. Especially with war.”The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had told aides on Tuesday he had approved attack plans for Iran but was holding off to see if Iran would give up its nuclear program. “All options are on the table,” a White House official told AFP when asked about the report.Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Thursday in Washington with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, the State Department said, for talks expected to focus on Iran.- ‘Very late’ -Trump appeared to be in no hurry to reach what would be one of the most consequential decisions of his presidency — spending more than an hour dealing with the installation of his new flagpoles. He said Iran was reaching out to try to strike a deal on its nuclear program to end the conflict with US ally Israel.”They want to come to the White House, I may do that,” Trump said. He added however that it was “very late to be talking… There’s a big difference between now and a week ago.”Iran denied it had offered to send officials to Washington.”No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations posted on X.Trump had favored a diplomatic route to end Iran’s nuclear program, seeking a deal to replace the agreement he tore up in his first term in 2018.But since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched strikes on Iran six days ago Trump has moved in behind the key US ally and is now weighing whether to use American military power against Tehran too.Trump said Wednesday that Iran was “weeks” away from being able to make a nuclear bomb.He noted that the United States is the only country with “bunker buster” bombs capable of taking out Iran’s Fordow nuclear plant “but that doesn’t mean I’m going to do it.” The US president said he had told Netanyahu to “keep going” with Israel’s offensive against Iran, adding that they were speaking every day.Trump however rebuffed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to mediate in the Israel-Iran conflict, saying Russia should end its own war in Ukraine first.”He actually offered to help mediate, I said ‘do me a favor, mediate your own. Let’s mediate Russia first, okay? You can worry about this later,'” Trump said. 

From Tehran to Toronto via Turkey: an Iranian’s bid to flee war

Dragging two suitcases and wearing a rucksack, Homa looked exhausted after crossing the Turkish border following a long trip from Tehran where she’d been on holiday when the Israel-Iran war began. The 40-year-old Iranian who works in Canada as a business analyst was stranded when Iran closed its airspace after Israel launched a massive pre-dawn bombing campaign on Friday and the Islamic republic struck back, in their most intense confrontation in history. Homa, who didn’t give her surname, quickly looked for an alternative way out, eventually finding a bus to Iran’s northwestern border with Turkey, a journey of 850 kilometres (530 miles).After enduring four days of conflict, she left Tehran at 8:00 pm on Tuesday, reaching the Kapikoy border crossing into the eastern Turkish province of Van on Wednesday afternoon. Many people were leaving Tehran, like her own family who drove to Shahriar, a town some 30 kilometres to the west on a journey that took “hours, because of the heavy traffic,” she said. “They’re not safe, I am worried about them”. So far, Iran says at least 224 people have been killed in the Israeli attacks targeting Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure, while Israel says at least 24 have died in Tehran’s retaliation. Despite her long journey, Homa still has some way to go before getting back to her family in Toronto. “Right now, I’m going to Erzurum, then to Istanbul, then to Dubai and then to Toronto,” she said before starting the next five-hour leg from the border to Erzurum on her long road home. – ‘Impossible to sleep’ -“I couldn’t sleep for five nights in a row” because of the sound of incoming missiles, told AFP, saying the bombardment in the east of the city had forced to her to relocate to the north. And communication was difficult. “The internet is awful. I couldn’t even get the VPN working. Telegram, WhatsApp, Instagram are all being filtered and WiFi is on-and-off,” she said. Kapikoy, which lies 100 kilometres east of the lakeside Turkish city of Van, is the main point for crossings between Turkey and Iran.So far there doesn’t appear to be a huge influx of Iranians crossing the border since the bombing began, and Turkish officials haven’t given numbers.On Wednesday afternoon, AFP correspondents saw a steady trickle of Iranians arriving, with similar numbers crossing back into Iran — several hundred at the most.A Turkish customs official told AFP that “there’s nothing unusual compared to last year. Despite the war, the arrivals are quite stable,” given that Van has always been a popular destination for Iranian tourists. Even so, flights between Van and Istanbul have been solidly booked up in both directions for days, as have long-distance coaches. Turkish bus drivers say the numbers have been higher over the past week.”We used to have three to four buses between 8:00 pm and 8:00 am but right now we have 30,” driver Ismail Metin told AFP, saying many head to Istanbul some 1,500 kilometres away. -‘Iranians not fleeing’-Many Iranians are also trying to get home — among them Ramin Rad, 37, who works in the tile business. He was in Van for work when the bombing started, and was hoping to get back to Urmia, the largest city in Iran’s Western Azerbaijan province. “My family is safe,” he said, confident that the war would not destabilise the regime and expressing anger at Israel. “How dare you change Allah’s regime? Godwilling, Muslims will win,” he said.Mirzanezhad Valehzagherd, a 49-year-old who works in tourism, often travels between Istanbul, where he lives, and Tehran, but was forced to go by land because there were no flights. “My family lives in Tehran,” he told AFP, saying the situation there was “not bad” because Israel was targeting “military” sites. “People are not fleeing Tehran,” he insisted, his words echoed by a woman in a straw hat who was going the other way. “We live in northern Cyprus and because there’s no flights, we had to get a bus to the border from Tehran,” said 45-year-old Seher who works in finance. “It’s safe over there. There’s no problem.” 

Iran-Israel war: latest developments

Israel and Iran exchanged fire again on Wednesday, the sixth day of strikes in their most intense confrontation in history, fuelling fears of a drawn-out conflict that could engulf the Middle East.Here are the latest developments:- New missile salvo -Israel’s army on Wednesday said it had detected new missiles launched from Iran, adding that its defensive systems were operating to intercept the threat.The announcement came after Iran issued an evacuation warning for residents of the Israeli city of Haifa, with state TV subsequently reporting launches of Fattah hypersonic missiles.The Israeli military later said it was “flying over surface-to-surface missile launch and storage sites… (and) striking those attempting to reactivate sites that have already been hit”.Israel’s air defence systems appear to have been largely successful in intercepting the daily barrages of Iranian missiles and drones.An Israeli military official, who asked not to be named, said that Iran had fired around 400 ballistic missiles and 1,000 drones since Friday. About 20 missiles had struck civilian areas in Israel, the official added.- Near-total internet blackout -Iran was in a “near-total national internet blackout”, London-based watchdog NetBlocks wrote on X.Iran announced last week that it was placing temporary restrictions on the internet, with the communication ministry saying Wednesday that heavier limits were being imposed due to Israel’s “abuse of the country’s communication network for military purposes”.Iranian media later reported that Israel briefly hacked the state television broadcast, airing footage of women’s protests and urging people to take to the streets. Numerous sites and apps have remained at least partially inaccessible.State television appealed to Iranians on Tuesday to delete WhatsApp from their phones, charging that the messaging app gathers users’ location and personal data and “communicates them to the Zionist enemy”.A WhatsApp spokesperson hit back against the claims, expressing concern the “false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked”.- Trump on strikes, talks -President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was considering whether the United States would join Israel’s strikes, and said that Iran had reached out to seek negotiations on ending the conflict.”I may do it, I may not do it,” Trump told reporters. “I can tell you this, that Iran’s got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate.”Trump said Iran had even suggested sending officials to the White House for talks on Tehran’s nuclear program in a bid to end Israel’s air assault.Asked if it was too late for negotiations, he said: “Nothing is too late.”In a televised statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Trump a “great friend” of Israel, and thanked him “for the support of the United States in defending Israel’s skies”.- Khamenei warns US -Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech read on state television: “This nation will never surrender.”He added: “America should know that any military intervention will undoubtedly result in irreparable damage.”Trump had said on Tuesday that the United States knows where Khamenei is located but will not kill him “for now”.Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday his country was committed to “diplomacy” but was acting in “self-defence” against Israel’s assault.- Israel says hit security HQ -AFP journalists reported hearing blasts across Tehran throughout the day on Wednesday, with smoke billowing over parts of the city.Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in the afternoon that air force jets had “destroyed the internal security headquarters of the Iranian regime — the main arm of repression of the Iranian dictator”.French President Emmanuel Macron urged Israel to end strikes on targets in Iran not linked to nuclear activities or ballistic missiles, his office said.- ‘Painful losses’ -Foreign governments have scrambled to evacuate their citizens from both countries, with US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announcing plans on Wednesday to get Americans out by air and sea.Israel’s attacks have hit nuclear and military facilities around Iran, as well as residential areas.Residential areas in Israel have also been hit.Netanyahu acknowledged suffering “painful losses” on Wednesday, but added: “The home front is solid, the people are strong.”The prime minister’s office said Monday that at least 24 people have been killed in Israel and hundreds wounded since Iran’s retaliatory strikes began Friday.Iran said on Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.- Putin eyes ‘solution’ -Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that a deal to end the fighting between Israel and Iran was possible.He also claimed Israel’s strikes on Iran had led to a “consolidation” of support in Iranian society around its leaders.”We see that today in Iran there is a consolidation of society around the country’s political leadership,” Putin told foreign journalists, including AFP, in a televised event.”This is a delicate issue, and of course we need to be very careful here, but in my opinion, a solution can be found,” he added, referring to a possible deal that was in the interests of both Israel and Iran.He had previously proposed to act as a mediator in the conflict, prompting both Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron to question his suitability given Russia’s war in Ukraine.

US bases in the Middle East

The United States has thousands of troops deployed on bases across the Middle East, a region in which Washington’s forces have carried out repeated military operations in recent decades.Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign against Iran last week, and US President Donald Trump has said he is weighing whether to join Israel in the fight.US involvement in the conflict would likely result in attacks by Tehran on American troops in the region, who were already targeted by Iran-aligned forces in the course of the Israel-Hamas war.Below, AFP examines countries with major concentrations of US forces in the Middle East, which falls under the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM).- Bahrain -The tiny Gulf kingdom hosts an installation known as Naval Support Activity Bahrain, where the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet and US Naval Forces Central Command headquarters are based.Bahrain’s deep-water port can accommodate the largest US military vessels, such as aircraft carriers, and the US Navy has used the base in the country since 1948, when the facility was operated by Britain’s Royal Navy.Several US ships have their home port in Bahrain, including four anti-mine vessels and two logistical support ships. The US Coast Guard also has vessels in the country, including six fast response cutters.- Iraq -The United States has troops at various installations in Iraq, including Al-Asad and Arbil air bases. The Iraqi government is a close ally of Iran, but also a strategic partner of Tehran’s arch-foe the United States.There are some 2,500 US troops in Iraq as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group. Baghdad and Washington have agreed on a timetable for the gradual withdrawal of the coalition’s forces from the country.US forces in Iraq and Syria were repeatedly targeted by pro-Iran militants following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, but responded with heavy strikes on Tehran-linked targets, and the attacks largely subsided.- Kuwait -Kuwait has several US bases, including Camp Arifjan, the location of the forward headquarters for the US Army component of CENTCOM. The US Army also has stocks of prepositioned materiel in the country.Ali al-Salem Air Base hosts the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, the “primary airlift hub and gateway for delivering combat power to joint and coalition forces” in the region. Additionally, the United States has drones including MQ-9 Reapers in Kuwait.- Qatar -Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar includes the forward components of CENTCOM, as well as of its air forces and special operation forces in the region. It also hosts rotating combat aircraft, as well as the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, which includes “airlift, aerial refueling intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and aeromedical evacuation assets.”- Syria -The United States has for years maintained troop presences at a series of installations in Syria as part of international efforts against the Islamic State group, which rose out of the country’s civil war to overrun large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq.The Pentagon announced in April that it would roughly halve the number of its forces in the country to less than 1,000 in the coming months as part of a “consolidation” of US troops in the country.- United Arab Emirates -Al Dahfra Air Base in the UAE hosts the US 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, a force that is composed of 10 squadrons of aircraft and also includes drones such as MQ-9 Reapers.Combat aircraft have rotated through Al Dhafra, which also hosts the Gulf Air Warfare Center for air and missile defense training.

Gaza rescuers say 33 killed by Israel fire

Gaza’s civil defence agency said 33 people were killed by Israeli fire in the Palestinian territory on Wednesday, including 11 who were seeking aid. The war sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel has ravaged the Gaza Strip and resulted in severe shortages of food, fuel and clean water.Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 11 people were killed and more than 100 wounded “after the occupation forces opened fire and launched several shells… at thousands of citizens” who had gathered to queue for food in central Gaza.The military told AFP that its forces operating in central Gaza identified “a group of suspicious individuals” approaching “in a manner that posed a potential threat to the forces.”It said its troops then fired “warning shots”, but that it was “unaware of injuries”.In early March, Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza, amid a deadlock in truce negotiations, only partially easing restrictions in late May.- Soldier killed -Since then, chaotic scenes and a string of deadly shootings have occurred near areas where Palestinians have gathered in hopes of receiving aid.The civil defence agency said another 19 people were killed in three Israeli strikes on Wednesday, which it said targeted houses and a tent for displaced people.The Israeli military told AFP regarding one of those attacks that its troops were “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities”.Later Wednesday, the Israeli army said a soldier — staff sergeant Stav Halfon — had been killed during an operation in the southern Gaza Strip. In another incident, three more people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a neighbourhood northeast of Gaza City on Wednesday, Bassal said.Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency.The agency reported that at least 53 people were killed on Tuesday, as they gathered near an aid centre in the southern city of Khan Yunis hoping to receive flour.After Israel eased its blockade, the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began distributing aid in late May, but its operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and dozens of deaths.- ‘Acute food insecurity’ -UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.However, the UN humanitarian office OCHA pointed out Tuesday that incidents “are also increasingly occurring along routes used by the UN to deliver humanitarian supplies”, not just GHF.It added that its humanitarian partners, including the World Food Programme (WFP), have reported that fuel in Gaza was reaching “critically low levels”.”Without immediate resupply, essential services — including the provision of clean water — will grind to a halt very soon,” the statement added.OCHA said on Monday that its partners “continue to warn of the risk of famine in Gaza, amid catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity”.The Hamas attack which triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to Israeli official figures.The Gaza health ministry said on Wednesday that 5,334 people have been killed since Israel resumed major operations in the territory on March 18, ending a two-month truce.The overall death toll in Gaza since the war broke out has reached 55,637 people, according to the health ministry.