President Donald Trump has provided Iran with “two or three days” to make a counterproposal for a more permanent peace deal.
Trump announced on Monday that he would delay a new attack on Iran, which had been planned for Tuesday, after Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates asked for more time to negotiate with Tehran.
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A day later, Trump, during an impromptu press conference at the White House, told reporters he had been “an hour away from making the decision to go.”
“I had made the decision, so they called up,” the president said on Tuesday. “They had heard I made the decision. They said, ‘Sir, could you give us a couple of more days because we think they’re being reasonable?’ Well, I mean, I’m saying two or three days. Maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday, something. Maybe early next week. A limited period of time, because we can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.”
But although providing Iran with some breathing room, Trump on Tuesday continued to apply pressure on the regime, previewing the possibility of “another big hit,” despite a push from Democrats to restrict his war powers.
“They want to stop Trump from, if he has to, giving them another slap,” Trump said of Democrats and Iran. “They want to have a nuclear weapon to blow up the Middle East and to blow up, frankly, the world. It’s not going to happen.”
Trump also used the press conference, which started after he showed reporters the construction site for his ballroom project, to defend the war, contending that it is “very popular,” though he was not “doing this politically.”
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“It’s very popular when you, when they hear that it’s having to do with nuclear weapons, weapons that could take out Los Angeles, could take out major cities very quick,” he said. “I don’t really have enough time to explain to people, I’m too busy getting it done.”
“When they understand, I think it’s frankly very popular,” he added. “But whether it’s popular or not popular, I have to do it, because I’m not going to let the world be blown up with my watch.”
