Trump ready with Iran attack plan?

Washington: US President Donald Trump has approved plans to attack Iran, but has not made a final decision on whether to strike the country. The US President held off from initiating strikes in case Iran agreed to abandon its nuclear programme, a senior intelligence source said. Trump is reportedly considering a US strike on Fordo, an underground uranium enrichment facility in Iran.

Senior officials in the United States are getting ready for a possible military strike on Iran in the coming days, according to a Bloomberg report. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected Trump's demand for unconditional surrender, as the US President said his patience had run out. On Wednesday, Trump said, "I may do it, I may not do it", when asked a question about US involvement in Iran. He also repeated his insistence on Iran’s unconditional surrender: “The next week is going to be very big, maybe less than a week.”

Khamenei rebuked Trump in recorded speech, saying that "any US military intervention" would be costly and added: "The Iranian nation will not surrender."

It was Khamenei's first appearance since Israel launched what it described as pre-emptive strikes on Friday.

Trump brushed off the rejection, saying "good luck", but again declined to disclose his plans. "I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do," he said.

The news of Trump backing strike plans was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Iran's mission to the United Nations mocked Trump in posts on X: "Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance.” "No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House," it added. "The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to 'take out' Iran's supreme leader."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video that his country's forces were "progressing step by step" towards eliminating threats posed by Iran's nuclear sites and ballistic missile arsenal.

"We control the skies over Tehran. We are striking with tremendous force at the regime of the ayatollahs. We are hitting the nuclear sites, the missiles, the headquarters, the symbols of the regime," he said.Meanwhile, Pete Hegseth, Trump's defence secretary, told a Senate committee that the Pentagon was prepared to execute any order given by Trump.

His comments came amid a build-up of American forces in the Middle East. A carrier strike group led by the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier was steaming from south-east Asia to join another strike group led by the USS Carl Vinson, already in the Gulf.

Various air assets including refuelling tankers were also seen on flight trackers moving from Europe, with reports of F-22 and F-35 strike aircraft following.

The US State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would meet UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Washington DC on Thursday, for talks expected to focus on Iran.

So far, the US has not made a formal request to use the UK's military bases in Diego Garcia or Cyprus to conduct strikes against Iran.

Normally, the US would first inform its ally if it intended to conduct offensive operations from those bases. A British source said it was believed "all options" were on the table in Washington but there was no complete picture of America's intent.

The US embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday issued an evacuation plan for American citizens currently in Israel. It was unclear how many Americans were seeking to leave Israel or whether the US military would assist with the evacuation flights.