“I always knew the date,” the president said in a brief phone interview. “Because I know everything. I know everything. I know everything.
“I gave them 60 days and they didn’t meet it,” Trump went on. “Today’s 61, you know. Today’s day 61.”
The president had never publicly revealed the 60-day deadline — though its existence had been reported by Israeli media — until after Israel launched Thursday’s attack, and had been coy on whether he fully supported giving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the green light to strike.
The first sign a significant operation was afoot came Wednesday, when non-essential US personnel were told to leave several outposts in the region.
Trump had stressed that he wanted to reach a deal diplomatically first — but if that failed, he had warned in May that “we could actually blow [the centrifuges] up.”
Trump hosted Netanyahu at the White House on April 7, just over two months before Israeli forces launched devastating attacks targeting top Iranian military officials and nuclear scientists.
Iran responded by launching 100 drones back at Israel, which the Israel Defense Forces said they had intercepted.
Asked whether Netanyahu provided him with intelligence showing the progress of Iran’s nuclear program and whether the 60-day window was mutually agreed, Trump said, “I know what’s going on. Someone informed me of it.”
The US has been pressing Iran to abandon its nuclear enrichment program altogether in return for re-entering the global economy.
Vice President JD Vance said in May that the optimum deal would be for Iran to halt its nuclear program and “the complete cessation of any chance that they can get a nuclear weapon.”
But Tehran had been unwilling to come to that agreement, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying on June 4: “Who are you to tell us whether we should have a nuclear program or not?”
“They had a great chance to make a deal. Iran did,” Trump said Friday. “They had a great chance to make a deal and they didn’t make it.”
The president indicated earlier in the day that the US was still willing to make a deal with Tehran — with another round of indirect talks set for this weekend.
“They had a great chance to make a deal. Iran did,” Trump said Friday. “They had a great chance to make a deal and they didn’t make it.”
“I told them what to do, but they just couldn’t get there,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!”
“There has already been great death and destruction,” Trump added in a separate post, “but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end.
“Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire.”
Advertisement