Iranupdated 40m ago2 min read
Tom Barrack Says U.S. Could Strike Iran This Weekend, Trump Says He Knows Nothing
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Tom Barrack said the U.S. could absolutely strike Iran this weekend. Trump said he has no knowledge about any Iran strike.
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Weekend strike floated
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack told an online program that the United States could “absolutely” strike Iran “this weekend,” saying, “Could there be a strike later this week? Definitely.”
“Could there be a strike later this week? Definitely.”
President Donald Trump downplayed Barrack’s remarks when asked, telling reporters in Florida, “Was this my ambassador? He is a man of great influence as far as I can tell. If that’s the case, I don’t know anything about him.”
Barrack said the United States objective was not regime change, warning that “there will be consequences” if Iran continues threatening “our allies, and the Gulf region,” while insisting those consequences “will not include regime change.”
Trump also confirmed Washington could mount another attack against Tehran within the framework of the Holistic Anger operation, while saying the United States has “eliminated the Iranian nuclear capabilities.”
Trump hints at Epic Fury
Trump told a rally in Florida, “We may do another little Epic Fury, or they’ll agree,” after he had previously said he would not take more military action in Iran until after the midterms scheduled for November 3. Tom Barrack said the president was “open and available and accessible to a deal,” and he described months of negotiations at the negotiating table.
Barrack also framed the consequences for Iran as non-regime-change, saying, “The consequence won’t be regime change,” and adding that the United States was interested in “rebalancing so that there’s no hostages, no threats, and the world can calm down.” NPR’s Greg Myre said the U.S. military was reinforcing its positions in the Middle East and preparing for possible action, while noting that “perhaps the only person who knows for sure what will happen is President Trump.”
Planning, elections, and risks
NPR said the prospect of escalation was complicated by critical elections in the United States and Israel, with Israel elections on Tuesday and the U.S. midterm elections on November 3. NPR reported that the U.S. was sending a third aircraft carrier to the Middle East, and it said the USS Theodore Roosevelt “won’t be in the region for another week or so.”
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran was prepared for both diplomacy and war, and NPR said Iran claimed Thursday that seven were hit as it continued firing on oil tankers through the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. NPR added that Trump pushed back on Iran’s claim, saying it “just wasn’t true,” and it described the dispute as an attempt “to drive up oil prices.”