President Donald Trump said Iran has reached out to him and suggested a meeting at the White House amid Israel’s ongoing strikes. Trump has demanded Iran’s unconditional surrender on the nuclear issue.
“I said it’s very late, you know. I said it’s very late to be talking,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday morning. “I don’t know, there’s a big difference between now and a week ago, right? Big difference.”
Trump continued: “They even suggested they come to the White House.” He called the request “courageous” because it is “not easy for them to do.”
Trump: Iran Is ‘Totally Defenseless’
Israel launched Operation Rising Lion on Friday, June 13, and has targeted dozens of military and nuclear sites in Iran. It has also taken out swathes of Iranian military and intelligence leaders, as well as a number of top nuclear scientists.
Trump is considering the United States joining Israel in striking Iran. He says Iran must never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Tehran denies harboring such ambitions and says its nuclear program is for civil energy. It has warned the U.S. of war if it intervenes with Israel.
“I don’t know how much longer it’s going to go on,” Trump said of the current conflict. “They’re totally defenseless. They have no air defense whatsoever.”
Asked for his message to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said his country would not surrender, Trump replied: “Good luck.”
Khamenei, in an address to the nation on Wednesday, warned the U.S. “of the consequences of engaging in war, because it will suffer severe damage if it decides to do so. War is met with war, bombing with bombing, and strike with strike.”
“Intelligent people who know Iran, its people, and its history never speak to this nation in the language of threats, because Iranians cannot surrender,” he added.
