President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both posted to social media hinting that the United States is considering involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran, with Trump even raising the possibility of violence against Iran’s leadership.
The first of Tuesday’s posts came from Vance, who wrote a lengthy missive defending Trump’s handling of the conflict and blaming Iran for continuing its nuclear enrichment programme.
“The president has made clear that Iran cannot have uranium enrichment. And he said repeatedly that this would happen one of two ways- the easy way or the ‘other’ way,” Vance wrote.
The vice president proceeded to explain what the “other way” might look like.
“The president has shown remarkable restraint in keeping our military’s focus on protecting our troops and protecting our citizens,” Vance said. “He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. That decision ultimately belongs to the president.”
Trump himself upped the ante less than an hour later. On his Truth Social platform, the president appeared to threaten Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and called for the country’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER”.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump wrote.
“He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”
The two messages arrive as Iran and Israel continue to exchange missile fire, with experts fearing the outbreak of a wider regional war.
Already, Trump has indicated he had prior knowledge of Israel’s initial attack on June 13, and news reports indicate that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has petitioned Trump to join its military campaign against Iran.
Still, the Trump administration has put some distance between itself and Israel, a longtime ally.
On the night the first attacks were launched by Israel, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement calling Israel’s actions “unilateral” and stressing that the US was “not involved in [the] strikes against Iran”