White House envoy Steve Witkoff revealed that military strikes in Iran might not be off the table for the United States as diplomatic talks continue.
The top Trump administration aide told Axios that President Donald Trump had a second phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday night — the second call in two days. Netanyahu reportedly told Trump Wednesday to hold off on attacks in Iran to give Israel time to prepare its defense strategy for a potential retaliation attack.
"It was one of the reasons Trump decided to delay orders for the U.S. military to move forward with a strike against Iran," Axios reported. "U.S. officials say military action is still on the table if Iran resumes killing protesters. Israeli officials think that despite the delay, a U.S. military strike could take place in the coming days."
Russian President Vladimir Putin had a phone call Thursday with both Netanyahu and the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, according to Axios, and offered to mediate between the countries.
The Pentagon has moved its carrier strike team to the Middle East amid the growing tensions.
Witkoff said he hoped for a diplomatic solution during the Israeli-American Council Thursday night in Miami. He had planned to meet with David Barnea, head of Israel's Mossad spy agency, on Friday to discuss the matter further.
Witkoff argued that a deal would need to reached to reduce Iran's ballistic missiles inventory, uranium enrichment and the removal of the country's stockpile of 2,000 kilograms of enriched uranium.
"I think if Iran, which is stumbling it its economy. It's a pretty serious situation. Inflation is well north of 50%," Witkoff said. "If they want to come back to the League of Nations, we can solve those four problems diplomatically and that would be a good resolution and the alternative will be a bad one."