US President Donald Trump says the world will know in the “next 10 days” whether the US will make a deal with Iran or take military action.
At the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington, DC, Trump said of the talks with Iran on its nuclear program that “we have to make a meaningful deal or bad things will happen.”
In recent days, the US has increased military forces in the Middle East, while progress was also reported in talks between US and Iranian negotiators in Switzerland.
Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans have opposed any possible military action in Iran without congressional approval.
In his statements, Trump said that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is also Trump’s son-in-law, had “some very good meetings” with Iran.
“It has been proven over the years that it is not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran, otherwise bad things happen,” he said.
A day earlier, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt warned that Iran would be “very wise” to make a deal with the United States, adding that Trump still hoped for a diplomatic solution to Tehran’s nuclear program.
When Trump first announced the Peace Board, it was thought to be aimed at ending the two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and overseeing reconstruction. But in the past month, its mission has not been just one conflict. Many believe that the board, which Trump chairs and is made up of about two dozen countries, is intended to sideline the United Nations.
US missiles and aircraft hit three Iranian nuclear facilities in June last year, and the White House was reportedly discussing new strike options this week.
US forces have increased their presence in the region in recent weeks, including the deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
However, the BBC has learned that the British government has not given the US permission to use British military bases to support potential attacks on Iran.
In previous military operations in the Middle East, the US has used RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and the British overseas territory of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
Satellite images have also shown that Iran has strengthened military installations and the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has posted threatening messages to US forces on social media.
One of Khamenei’s posts read: “The US president keeps saying that the US has sent a warship towards Iran. Of course, a warship is a dangerous military asset, but more dangerous than that warship is the weapon that can send that warship to the bottom of the ocean.
Several members of the US Congress have expressed opposition to any military action against Iran.
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