U.S. Envoy Says Iran Strike Could Come ‘This Weekend’; Trump Says He Knows Nothing of It
U.S. ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said a strike on Iran was possible this weekend, contradicting the White House line that no attack would come before the Nov. 3 midterms. President Trump, asked about the remark in Florida, said he knew nothing of it, while eight foreign ministers met in Istanbul to urge restraint.
The United States could launch a strike on Iran as soon as this weekend, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey said Friday, an assertion President Donald Trump distanced himself from hours later as foreign ministers from eight countries gathered in Istanbul to argue against a new attack.
“Could there be a strike this weekend? Absolutely,” Tom Barrack told podcast host Mario Nawfal during a visit to the Gulf, according to reports of the interview. Barrack, who also serves as Washington’s point man on Syria, said President Trump remained open to a deal with Tehran after months of negotiations.
“The president is very clear. He’s open and available and accessible to a deal,” Barrack said, and warned that continued Iranian threats against U.S. allies and Gulf states would bring consequences.
His comments ran against the timetable the White House has stated publicly. A White House spokesperson, Anna Kelly, said a day earlier that U.S. strikes would not take place before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, according to Ynet. The U.S. and Israel have already drawn up plans for possible strikes after the midterms, Anadolu has reported.
Asked about Barrack’s remark after landing in Florida, Trump played it down. “That was my ambassador to Turkey?” Trump said. “He’s a pretty powerful man, I guess. Well, if that’s the case, I don’t know anything about it. Thank you very much, everybody.”
Trump has separately kept the threat of another round of strikes alive. “We may do another little Epic Fury, or they’ll agree,” he said Friday, Silent Dossier reported, citing Ynet, using the name given to the earlier U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran. On the White House lawn, he asked whether the U.S. wanted to “finish it off or just want to let it wither.”
Ministers in Istanbul argue against attack
Hours before Barrack spoke, eight foreign ministers met in Istanbul in a first joint session of the R4 group (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt) and the E3 (Britain, France and Germany), with Italy also attending. No minister publicly backed military action, according to Al Jazeera, which covered the meeting.
“Military intervention in Iran is by no means a solution. No one supports this at the moment,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters afterward, according to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said further escalation “would create nothing but losers and would undoubtedly have very serious consequences for hydrocarbon prices,” Al Jazeera reported. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he did not believe the problem could be solved from a purely military standpoint and described Italy’s aim as de-escalation to guarantee freedom of navigation.
The four R4 ministers issued a joint statement backing the Islamabad memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran and calling for the “swift and full resumption of safe, secure and unimpeded passage” through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Pakistan’s Express Tribune. The statement also condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and on Red Sea shipping.
Iran warns it could strike first
Tehran answered the weekend-strike talk with a warning of its own. Revolutionary Guard spokesperson Hossein Mohebi announced the activation of what he called a “decentralised mosaic defence” doctrine, saying Iran would no longer limit itself to proportionate responses and could take the initiative by launching attacks, TBS News reported.
Barrack said any U.S. action would not aim to overthrow Iran’s government. “The consequence won’t be regime change,” he said, adding that the president had made clear he was not interested in replacing the Iranian leadership. That contrasted with the position of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly called for the removal of Iran’s clerical regime ahead of Israel’s Oct. 27 election.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, announced that President Masoud Pezeshkian will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week, according to Anadolu, a follow-up to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Tehran earlier this week.
Reporting based on coverage by TBS News, Silent Dossier, Anadolu Agency and Al Jazeera.
