U.S. President Donald Trump on the 20th (local time) called the two-week deadline set to decide whether the U.S. would participate in Israel's attack on Iran a maximum limit and urged Iran to make a decision to abandon its nuclear development.
President Trump met with reporters in the field after moving from Washington, D.C., to Bedminster, New Jersey, on the same day, stating, "I am giving them (Iran) time," and added, "I will say that two weeks is the maximum. It is time to see whether the (Iranian) people get their act together."
President Trump noted through White House Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt the day before that, based on the substantial possibility of negotiations with Iran, "I will decide within the next two weeks whether to proceed (with an attack)."
President Trump said regarding whether to support a 'ceasefire' between Israel and Iran, "It could be depending on the situation." In response to Iranian claims that the U.S. should persuade Israel to stop its airstrikes against Iran, he remarked, "I think that (asking Israel to stop airstrikes) is very hard," and added, "It is more difficult to ask someone who is winning (to stop airstrikes) than to someone who is losing."
President Trump commented on the conflict between Israel and Iran, which has lasted more than a week, stating, "Israel is doing well, and Iran is doing less well than that."
He expressed the perception that U.S. assistance is essential for Israel to fully destroy Iran's nuclear facilities as planned.
Regarding the claim that Israel can independently destroy Iran's underground nuclear facilities, President Trump said, "They (Israel) have very limited capabilities, so they can partially destroy them, but they do not have the capacity to go very deep," and added, "Let’s see what happens. (An attack on Iran's nuclear facilities) may not be necessary."
Additionally, President Trump emphasized that he opposed the initiation of the Iraq War when he was a civilian, stating that Iraq, contrary to claims by the Bush administration at the time, was in a 'pre-nuclear state' without weapons of mass destruction (WMD). He mentioned that he is "not discussing" the issue of deploying ground troops to Iran, saying, "The most undesirable thing is the deployment of ground troops."