Trump, Departing the White House on Sunday: "There Will Not Be a Strike" on Iran Today
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump took questions from reporters on the South Lawn on Sunday (October 25) before departing the White House for Michigan. Asked whether U.S. military action against Iran could come as soon as that day, he said: "Would I tell you that? But the answer is no. There will not be a strike today."
Trump added that the United States holds "two very different sets of intelligence reports," describing the incoming data as "very advanced," without detailing either set. Earlier Sunday, in an interview with Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," he said it was "getting to be decision time" on Iran: "Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal? That's all. We don't play games."
According to multiple reports, the United States has been sending additional forces toward the Persian Gulf, including a third aircraft carrier group, and officials have cautioned that the stretch between the November 3 midterm elections and the seating of the new Congress could be especially volatile, with a negotiated agreement seen as the most realistic path to ending the conflict. Qatari mediators traveled to Tehran on Sunday to help de-escalate regional tensions in coordination with the United States.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told German broadcaster ARD that Iran "has never left the negotiating table," accusing Washington of insisting on unilateral demands, and said the Strait of Hormuz was "not safe," holding the U.S. and Israel responsible. Yemen's Houthi movement said on Sunday it had targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline. As of Sunday evening, neither the White House nor the Pentagon had issued a written statement on Iran following the president's remarks.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 特朗普总统在白宫南草坪向记者讲话，白宫官方照片，公有领域（Wikimedia Commons）；President Trump speaking to reporters on the South Lawn, official White House photo, public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
