Trump will decide on Iran attack ‘in the next two weeks,’ White House says

President Donald Trump said Thursday he will decide whether the United States will attack Iran “within the next two weeks,” adding in a statement released by the White House that “there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future.”

For days, Trump had mused publicly about the possibility of bombing Iranian nuclear sites, suggesting that strikes could be imminent while also insisting that it was not too late for talks. With his comments Thursday, he appeared to opt for some breathing room to give diplomacy a chance.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy to the Middle East, has maintained correspondence with Iranian officials. She declined to provide any further details. Iran pulled out of talks with U.S. officials about a nuclear deal after Israel began attacking Iran last week.

Leavitt said any nuclear deal with Iran would have to include a ban on enriching uranium and block Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

After days of back-channel discussions, the Europeans, who have been effectively sidelined since the war started, are now trying to exert what limited leverage they have as weapons suppliers or potential peacemakers to try to end the war.

At talks in Geneva on Friday, they are expected to urge the Iranians to return to negotiations, even as Trump mulls the possibility of U.S. military action against Iran. The meeting would be the first formal gathering between Iranian and Western officials since Israel began attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The diplomatic efforts came as the Israeli military launched its latest wave of strikes Thursday against targets in Iran, including a nuclear complex. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the country would step up its attacks on Iran to “remove the threats to the state of Israel,” after a barrage of Iranian missiles hit several locations, including a major hospital complex in southern Israel.

Here’s what else to know:

— Potential U.S. involvement: Israel has pressed Trump to use powerful American weapons to attack Iran’s underground nuclear sites, and the prospect of U.S. involvement has added to fears that the war could spiral into a wider conflagration in the Middle East. The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has warned that the United States would suffer “irreparable” harm if it joined the Israeli campaign.

— Hospital attack: At the Soroka Medical Center in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, melted plastic and burned wiring in the ruins of a building hit by an Iranian missile filled the air with a foul smell. The hospital said the building had been largely evacuated in recent days and that it was treating several patients with minor injuries. It is the first Israeli hospital to be hit directly since the war with Iran began last Friday, the Israeli military said.

— Damage in Iran: The Israeli military said it struck a number of targets in Iran — including an inactive reactor at Arak, to prevent the site from producing material for nuclear weapons, and a nuclear production facility in the Natanz region. Iranian state media reported that Israeli warplanes struck the nuclear facility at Arak and said that there was no serious damage.

— Missile interceptors: Israel has a world-leading missile interception system, but as the war drags on, Israel is firing interceptors faster than it can produce them. That has raised questions within the Israeli security establishment about whether the country will run low on air defense missiles before Iran uses up its ballistic arsenal, according to eight current and former officials.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.