From ‘Evacuate Tehran' to ‘Two Weeks': Behind Trump's Shift on Iran

Yomiuri Shimbun

21-06-2025

Four days after President Donald Trump abruptly left a summit of global leaders in Canada, calling on civilians to 'evacuate Tehran' and stoking global talk of war, the president on Friday said he still wanted more time to decide.
Trump said he was waiting to see 'whether or not people come to their senses.' He also would not commit to calling for a ceasefire as negotiations continue. Speaking to reporters as he headed to his New Jersey golf club for a fundraiser for his super PAC, the president reiterated the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program but said he was 'not going to talk about' what a hypothetical U.S. response would look like.
Indeed, besides a brief gaggle after exiting Air Force One, Trump spent much of the day Friday trying to shift public attention to anything but Iran. He and his White House team posted on social media about the need to pass his One Big Beautiful Bill. Trump called for a special prosecutor to investigate the 2020 election, posted repeatedly about the charges that the Justice Department under President Joe Biden had brought against him and wrote that he expected a federal settlement with Harvard University soon.
In recent days, a relentless battle for Trump's ear has swirled around the president. As he often does, Trump has picked up the phone for – and received advice from – prominent voices pushing opposing views, according to people with knowledge of his conversations who, like others in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the president's process.
The advice – some solicited, others not – from prominent donors, right-wing media figures and elected officials played on Trump's own conflicting impulses on Iran. On the one side, Trump resolutely has stuck to his long-held belief that Iran must be stopped from developing a nuclear weapon. On the other, he has tried to avoid war – an approach that is a major element of his political movement.
On Thursday, Trump responded as he often has when faced with difficult options: He bought himself time, declaring that he would wait up to two weeks to make a decision.
So far, those cautioning the president to avoid authorizing a strike – and holding out for diplomatic negotiations – appear to be breaking through.
On Thursday, Trump had lunch with Stephen K. Bannon, his former adviser who remains a leading voice among the hard-line MAGA wing of the Republican Party. Bannon arrived at the White House after skipping the 11 a.m. hour of his two-hour morning show, 'War Room.' He opened the first hour by decrying the faux 'urgency' that pro-Israel hawks were pressing upon Trump.
Bannon and Jack Posobiec, a right-wing influencer who joined 'War Room' on Thursday morning, likened those speaking to Trump and advocating for a U.S. attack on Iran to used car salesmen, who make an 'upsell' by telling buyers that they only have limited time to decide. Bannon has been excoriating Rupert Murdoch and the hosts on his Fox network, accusing them of fomenting war talk.
Shortly after Trump's lunch with Bannon drew to a close, press secretary Karoline Leavitt stepped onto the podium in the White House press briefing room to read a statement she said was 'directly from the president.' The message was that Trump was going to let negotiations play out longer.
'Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,' Trump instructed Leavitt to read.
The statement had already been in the works before the lunch with Bannon, according to a person with knowledge of the day's events. But Trump's meeting with Bannon at the White House was notable, at a time when the former adviser has been particularly outspoken as a leader of the MAGA movement's anti-intervention faction.
A day earlier, Charlie Kirk, the influential right-wing commentator and another skeptic about an attack, had also visited Trump at the White House, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting, which has not been previously reported or publicly acknowledged by Kirk.
The 31-year-old activist has emphasized to his millions of followers that he trusts Trump's instincts, while insisting that getting involved in fighting against Iran could lead to a war that is much more drawn out than the U.S. intends.
Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that 'President Trump has never wavered in his stance that Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon and repeated that promise to the American people during and after his successful campaign. The President is a great foreign policy mind who listens to many perspectives, but ultimately makes the decisions he feels are best for the country.'
The drumbeat of MAGA opposition to the U.S. joining Israel in its conflict with Iran stands in contrast to the chorus of hawkish Republicans urging Trump to strike and even seek regime change.
That opposition has been complemented over the past two days by European efforts to negotiate with Iran.
A Friday meeting in Geneva of the top diplomats of Iran, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union ended with no breakthrough, with the Europeans pressing Iran to agree to limits on its nuclear program and the Iranian delegation saying it would not negotiate until Israel stops its strikes. They agreed to keep talking.
Referring to the meeting in Geneva, a White House official told The Washington Post on Friday that the president 'supports diplomatic efforts from our allies that could bring Iran closer to taking his deal.'
Trump had a more downbeat assessment. When asked how effective the European talks were, he told reporters on the New Jersey tarmac that 'Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us.'
'Europe is not going to be able to help on this one,' he said.
Trump also said for the second time this week that his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was 'wrong' in her assessment in the spring that there was no evidence Iran was building a nuclear weapon.
His position on Friday, however, still revealed interest in letting the diplomatic process play out, whether it's with Europe or the United States, and Trump reiterated that U.S. officials have 'been speaking with Iran.'
Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, did not travel to Geneva for the talks, Leavitt told The Post, but has remained in 'correspondence' with Iranian officials.
That willingness to continue talks stood in contrast to the sense of urgency Trump had telegraphed at the start of the week.
On Monday night, as the president prepared to leave the Group of Seven summit in Canada to return to the White House earlier than planned, pro-intervention voices were pushing the president to seize the moment. They advised him to not only take out Iran's nuclear facilities but also its government.
Trump, meanwhile, posted on social media instructing people to 'evacuate Tehran,' and he told reporters on Air Force One that he wanted to see a 'real end' to the problem.
That night, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News show and called for Trump to 'be all in' to help Israel take on Iran, asking, 'Wouldn't the world be better off if the Ayatollahs went away and were replaced by something better? Wouldn't Iran be better off?'
A day earlier on the same network, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said it would be in the U.S.'s interest to 'see regime change' in Iran.
Trump arrived back in Washington near 5 a.m. Tuesday. Later in the day, he met with advisers and reviewed options for an attack. That evening, he told aides that he was okay with the potential attack plans he had reviewed but that he was holding off on giving final approval to see if Iran would budge.
By Wednesday, Trump expressed annoyance as he was asked by reporters about his thinking on Iran, mocking one such question by suggesting he should tell reporters when he would be bombing Iran so they could be there to watch.
He offered glimpses into his thinking throughout the day, however, telling The Post he had issued the 'ultimate ultimatum' to Iran, but conceding that he had not yet made up his mind whether to strike.
On Wednesday afternoon, he held another meeting with advisers in the White House Situation Room.
By Thursday, however, the focus had shifted to attempts at negotiations with Iran. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington to coordinate ahead of Lammy's participation in Friday's talks in Geneva.
And in a call Thursday evening between Rubio and France's minister for Europe and foreign affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, the two men discussed the Europeans' planned approach and agreed to follow up after the Friday meeting to continue coordinating on negotiations, according to a French diplomat.
As he stood on the tarmac of Morristown Municipal Airport on Friday, Trump told reporters he wasn't sure how long he would allow the negotiations to continue with Iran.
'We're going to see what that period of time is, but I'm giving them a period of time,' Trump said. 'And I would say two weeks would be the maximum.'