After wink and nod for Israeli attack, Trump warns Iran to make deal of suffer worse fate

TOI correspondent from Washington: US President Donald Trump on Friday urged Tehran to even now make a deal renouncing its nuclear programme before things "get worse" and there is "nothing left," despite Israel appearing to have defied Washington to attack Iran.

In a convoluted post on Truth Social that suggested a "win and a nod policy" that greenlighted the US attack, Trump claimed that he "gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal.. but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done." US interlocutors were engaging with Iran in talks in Oman when Israel seemed to have jumped the gun.

Bizarrely, Trump also boasted about the lethality of US weapons in the post and signalled support for Israel's action despite its defiance, saying, "I told them (Iranians) it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come - And they know how to use it."

"Certain Iranian hardliner's spoke bravely, but they didn't know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!" Trump warned, adding that there has already been great death and destruction, "but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end."

The US President had been pursuing a diplomatic solution with Tehran to conclude a nuclear deal curbing Iran’s nuclear program, and his administration had repeatedly urged Israel to refrain from military action to avoid derailing talks. But Israel simply went ahead with the attack. Faced with Prime Minister Netanyahu's defiance, Trump tamely chose to support the attack, urging "Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire."

Some analysts though said US diplomacy actually served as cover for the surprise Israeli attack, lulling Iran into complacency.

Acknowledging that he had been informed before the attack and the US had provided “exquisite” intelligence support to Israel, Trump however said but the US did not participate in the strikes and no military role in the attack.