Senior US officials are preparing for the possibility of an attack on Iran in the coming days, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
The report, citing unnamed sources, said the situation is still evolving and could change. Some of the people, according to Bloomberg, indicated potential plans for an attack over the weekend.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House earlier on Wednesday, Trump declined to say whether he had made any decision on whether to join the Israeli action. “I might do it. I might not. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he said.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Trump told his senior advisers on Tuesday night that he had approved plans to attack Iran but was holding off on final orders to see if Tehran would give up its nuclear program.
–Putin says finding ways to end Iran-Israel conflict is right for everyone–
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday evening that finding ways to end hostilities between Iran and Israel is right for everyone, Anadolu reported.
“It would be right for everyone to look for ways to stop hostilities and find ways for all parties to this conflict to reach an agreement in order to secure both Iran’s interests on the one hand in its nuclear activity and in order to secure Israel’s interests, from the point of view of the unconditional security of the Jewish state,” Putin said during a meeting with the heads of international media organizations.
During the meeting held in St. Petersburg, Putin said that there are options to secure Iran’s interests and alleviate concerns on the Israeli side and that they have been presented to partners.
Russian President Putin said that he does not even want to discuss the possibility of Israel eliminating Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He further said that Russia and Iran have signed a contract to build two more units at the Bushehr nuclear power plant.
“The work is underway, our experts are on site, more than 200 people. We have agreed with the Israeli leadership that their security will be ensured,” he added.
Putin says Iran is not seeking military assistance from Russia. He added that Tehran has shown little interest in an earlier offer to jointly develop an air defense system.
In the context of the war in Ukraine, Putin reiterated his readiness to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for talks, adding that “the question is who will sign the documents.”
Putin took the opportunity to thank Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for organizing the talks in Istanbul and stressed Turkey’s important role in facilitating the negotiations.
Regional tensions have escalated since Friday, when Israel launched air strikes on multiple locations across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes.
Israeli authorities said that since then, at least 24 people have been killed and hundreds injured in Iranian missile strikes.
In Iran, according to Iranian media reports, 585 people have been killed and more than 1,300 wounded in Israeli strikes.
