Trump to decide within 2 weeks whether U.S. will get involved in Israel-Iran conflict: White House

U.S. President Donald Trump will decide within the next two weeks whether to strike Iran, the White House announced Thursday, indicating a slowdown after days of musing about the potential for the U.S. to intervene in the conflict with Israel.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt relayed the president's message about the new timeline during a briefing, but declined to provide further details.

"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," Leavitt told reporters, quoting Trump.

The U.S. has been weighing whether to join Israel's attack by striking Iran's well-defended Fordow uranium enrichment facility, which is buried under a mountain and widely considered to be out of reach of all but the U.S.'s "bunker-buster" bombs. The announcement puts an extended timeline on the president's warnings to Iran to immediately shut down its enrichment operations and any other potential for producing nuclear weapons. 

WATCH l Breaking down U.S. motives in conflict as White House downplays role:

How deep will the U.S. be pulled into the Israel-Iran war? | About That

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Duration 13:28

U.S. President Donald Trump has consistently denied his country's involvement in the intensifying conflict between Israel and Iran. But Andrew Chang explains the role the U.S. has already played — and the extent to which that involvement may still increase. Images provided by Getty Images, The Canadian Press and Reuters.

The open conflict between Israel and Iran erupted last Friday with a surprise wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 1,300 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.

Iran has retaliated by firing hundreds of missiles and drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds.

WATCH l Surveying the damage at Soroka Medical Center:

'Extensive damage' at Israeli hospital after Iranian missile attack, director says

11 hours ago

Duration 0:54

Several wards of the Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba, Israel, were 'completely demolished' and about 40 people were injured, many by broken glass, after an Iranian missile attack, says Shlomi Kodesh, director-general of the hospital.

Earlier Thursday, Israel's defence minister threatened Iran's supreme leader after Iranian missiles crashed into a major hospital in southern Israel and hit residential buildings near Tel Aviv, wounding at least 240 people. As rescuers wheeled patients out of the smoldering hospital, Israeli warplanes launched their latest attack on the country's nuclear program.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz blamed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for Thursday's barrage and said the military "has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist."

U.S. officials said earlier this week that Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei. Trump later said there were no plans to kill him, "at least not for now."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he trusted that Trump would "do what's best for America."

"I can tell you that they're already helping a lot," Netanyahu said from the rubble and shattered glass around the Soroka Medical Center in Israel's southern city of Beersheba.

Patients, medical workers injured

Eighty patients and medical workers were among the wounded in the strike Thursday on the medical centre. The vast majority were lightly wounded, as much of the hospital building had been evacuated in recent days.

Iranian officials insisted that they had not sought to strike the hospital and claimed the attack hit a facility belonging to the Israeli military's elite technological unit, called C4i. The website for the Gav-Yam Negev advanced technologies park, some three kilometres from the hospital, said C4i had a branch campus in the area.

WATCH | 'Dangerous and concerning' times:

As It Happens6:32Why this professor is staying in Tehran as Israeli bombs rain down

Since Israel began bombing Iran on Friday, both it and the U.S. have told people in Tehran to pack up and leave the capital. Foad Izadi, a professor of international affairs at the University of Tehran, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal he’s not going anywhere.

The Israeli army did not respond to a request for comment.

An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, acknowledged that there was no specific intelligence that Iran had planned to target the hospital.

The hospital, which provides services to around one million residents of Israel's south, had been caring for 700 patients at the time of the attack. Of the 80 lightly wounded in the strike, half were hospital staff, it said. Afterward, the hospital closed to all patients except for life-threatening cases.

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, although most have been shot down by Israel's multi-tiered air defences.

Also Thursday, the Canadian government announced plans to help Canadians flee the escalating conflict with organized commercial flights out of neighbouring countries. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Ottawa is "very concerned about Canadians in the region."

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