Has Trump put off joining the Israel-Iran conflict for two weeks?

United States President Donald Trump will decide Washington’s people of enactment successful narration to the Israel-Iran struggle successful 2 weeks’ time, the White House said connected Thursday.

Speculation has been rising this week that the US could determine to assistance its longstanding ally, Israel, successful strikes against Iran, which it claims are designed to neutralise Iran’s atomic programme. In particular, Israel wants the US to supply “bunker buster” bombs, which whitethorn beryllium capable to penetrate heavy wrong the upland successful northwest Iran, wherever the Fordow atomic installation is located.

This comes aft a week of Trump shifting his position connected the conflict.

Here is what we know:

What has Trump said astir imaginable US enactment successful Iran?

On Thursday, White House property caput Karoline Leavitt shared what she described arsenic a nonstop punctuation from the US president with reporters: “Based connected the information that there’s a important accidental of negotiations that whitethorn oregon whitethorn not instrumentality spot with Iran successful the adjacent future, I volition marque my determination whether oregon not to spell wrong the adjacent 2 weeks.”

How has Trump changed his presumption connected the Iran-Israel conflict?

When Israel archetypal attacked Iran precocious connected June 13, the Trump medication intelligibly stated that it had not been involved, calling Israel’s onslaught “unilateral action”. It has go wide since then, however, that the US did person cognition of the attacks successful advance.

Trump besides said helium believed Iran was “very close” to having a atomic limb during the Group of Seven (G7) acme successful Canada this week, contradicting his ain US quality reports. This marked a displacement from his presumption successful May, erstwhile helium made nationalist statements that Tehran and Washington were adjacent to a atomic deal.

On Wednesday, Trump refused to accidental whether the US would articulation the conflict.

“I whitethorn bash it. I whitethorn not bash it. I mean, cipher knows what I’m going to do,” helium told reporters extracurricular the White House.

Finally, connected Thursday, Trump appeared to springiness a two-week deadline for talks with Iran to win earlier the US would instrumentality action.

Does this mean Trump has delayed a US onslaught connected Iran for 2 weeks?

No. It besides does not needfully mean the US volition onslaught Iran astatine all. Leavitt remained ambiguous connected what could hap aft 2 weeks.

The property caput said: “The president is ever funny successful a diplomatic solution … helium is simply a peacemaker-in-chief. He is the peace-through-strength president. And so, if there’s a accidental for diplomacy, the president’s ever going to drawback it. But he’s not acrophobic to usage spot arsenic well.”

But Mona Yacoubian, elder advisor and manager of the Middle East Program astatine the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that portion 2 weeks would springiness clip for much negotiations with Iran, it would besides supply the US with clip to “flow successful further forces should it determine to articulation Israel successful the conflict”.

For now, it is intolerable to accidental which of these 2 possibilities is much apt – oregon if the “two weeks” mentioned by Trump is adjacent a deadline astatine all.

“I don’t adjacent cognize if President Trump knows what helium wants,” Iranian American expert Negar Mortazavi told Al Jazeera.

“He campaigned arsenic the president of bid … helium promised he’s going to extremity conflicts. Russia-Ukraine hasn’t ended. Gaza has escalated, and helium conscionable fto the 3rd large Middle East war, which looks similar a regime-change war, commencement nether his watch. So, helium says 1 thing. He does another.”

Others judge Trump’s “two weeks” remark is simply a dialog maneuver to use unit connected Iran during talks.

Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, told Al Jazeera that Trump could beryllium attempting to physique leverage with threats to strong-arm Iran into accepting his demands of “total surrender”.

“I deliberation he’s trying to contiguous himself arsenic this madman who is unpredictable, and successful truthful doing, helium tin past importune connected this precise hard enactment that Iran has refused to judge for decades of afloat dismantlement of its [nuclear] enrichment programme,” Abdi told Al Jazeera.

“The hold surely could beryllium portion of a broader negotiating strategy which exploits Iran’s weakened presumption arsenic a effect of wide-ranging subject strikes to extract much important concessions from Iran connected the atomic contented and perchance connected different points of contention arsenic well, for illustration its ballistic missiles programme,” Yacoubian said.

⁠”It’s highly hard to foretell what volition hap next,” she added. “President Trump’s idiosyncratic negotiating strategy alongside his instinctual, ‘from-the-gut’ decision-making attack underscores the unpredictability of the coming days – which whitethorn good beryllium the point!”

Has Trump declared deadlines before, and has helium stuck to them?

In the past, Trump has assigned akin timelines relating to Iran’s atomic programme, the Russia-Ukraine warfare and planetary commercialized tariffs. But helium does not ever instrumentality to them.

“Imposing deadlines stands arsenic possibly the 1 predictable constituent of Trump’s attack to uncovering solutions to analyzable problems,” said Yacoubian. “Setting explicit deadlines has characterised Trump’s negotiating benignant successful respective realms, from Ukraine to politically delicate home challenges.”

Iran-Israel conflict

In the lead-up to the existent conflict, Trump says helium gave Iran a 60-day deadline to negociate an statement implicit its atomic programme, but talks continued beyond its expiry, Yacoubian noted. In the end, it was Israel which took action, launching a bid of strikes connected Iranian subject and atomic sites connected June 13.

Russia-Ukraine war

Since the opening of his presidency successful January this year, Trump has been attempting to pb bid negotiations to bring an extremity to the warfare successful Ukraine.

On May 28, Trump acceptable a two-week deadline to find whether his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was consenting to extremity the conflict.

Trump told reporters then: “Within 2 weeks. We’re gonna find retired whether oregon not [Putin is] tapping america on oregon not. And if helium is, we’ll respond a small spot differently.”

As the two-week model approached an end, the New York Post asked Trump successful a podcast whether Putin cared astir Russia losing thousands of soldiers successful Ukraine. He said, “I’m starting to deliberation possibly helium doesn’t.”

Since the two-week model ended, Russia and Ukraine bash not look to beryllium immoderate person to a bid agreement. But Trump has not signalled a displacement successful US argumentation towards Russia contempt his erstwhile threat.

A study by the Reuters quality agency, published connected Tuesday, further claimed that the Trump medication had disbanded an interagency moving radical aimed astatine placing unit connected Russia to velocity up talks with Ukraine. Reuters cited 3 unnamed US officials successful its report. The beingness of this moving radical had not been made public.

Trade tariffs

Trump has besides announced pauses and delays to his on-again-off-again commercialized tariffs archetypal imposed connected trading partners of the US successful April.

In April, helium announced a 90-day pause for each its tariff targets but China, with which the US reached a commercialized woody earlier this month. The tariff intermission is acceptable to expire connected July 8.

However, connected June 11, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told lawmakers that Trump was apt to propulsion backmost the July 8 deadline.