US President Donald Trump on Friday said Iran had a “maximum” of two weeks to avoid potential American airstrikes, signaling he may act even before the deadline he set a day earlier.“I’m giving them a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum,” Trump told reporters when asked whether a decision to strike could come sooner.He said the goal was to see “whether or not people come to their senses” and downplayed the ongoing diplomatic push by European nations, saying, “Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us.”“Europe will not be able to help them with this one,” he added, referring to talks in Geneva involving Britain, France, Germany and the EU.Trump downplayed the idea of asking Israel to stop its attacks, despite Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warning that it won’t resume talks with the US unless the strikes end.Earlier, on Thursday, he had said he would decide “within the next two weeks” whether to launch a strike, citing a “substantial chance of negotiations” with Iran.“It’s very hard to make that request right now,” Trump told reporters as he arrived in Morristown, New Jersey.“If somebody’s winning, it’s a little bit harder to do than if somebody’s losing, but we’re ready, willing and able, and we’ve been speaking to Iran, and we’ll see what happens,” he added.Trump’s remarks came a day after he had opened the door to diplomacy, saying he would make a final decision “within the next two weeks” based on whether meaningful negotiations with Iran were possible. However, his Friday comments suggest that the decision could come sooner if Iran shows no movement on rolling back its nuclear ambitions.
