America's ambassador to Turkey said Friday that the United States could strike Iran as soon as this weekend — and when reporters put it to President Donald Trump, he distanced himself from his own envoy, saying he knew nothing about it.
Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Washington's special envoy for Syria, made the remark in an interview with online host Mario Nawfal while visiting the Gulf. Asked whether a strike could come within days, Barrack did not hedge — and, as AFP noted, he has no direct role in Iran policy, which made the answer land even harder across the region.
"Could there be a strike this weekend? Absolutely."
Barrack paired the warning with an open door to a deal. "The president is very clear. He's open and available and accessible to a deal and we've been at the table for months and months and months," he said, calling the remaining disputes over nuclear proliferation and enrichment "details, the punctuation in the chapter that needs to be finished."
Trump, asked by reporters about his ambassador's words on Friday, neither confirmed them nor shot them down. "He is a powerful man, I guess. I don't know anything about it," the president said. He did not call the remark wrong, and he did not rule anything out — leaving the warning standing and the decision where it has always been: with Trump himself.
All of it landed on a day when the president's own words kept every option open. At a rally in Fort Myers, Florida, Trump told supporters, "We may do another little Epic Fury," as he spoke about the war. Earlier Friday, he said the U.S. could end the war quickly but questioned whether Washington should end it swiftly or let it gradually wind down. Earlier this month, he said the U.S. would not attack Iran before the November 3 midterms.
The war is now nearing its eighth month. Operation Epic Fury — the U.S. military's name for its war against Iran, fought alongside Israel — began on February 28. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the U.S. and Israeli militaries have drawn up specific plans for renewed strikes after the midterms: a short, intensive three-to-five-day operation likely targeting Iran's energy infrastructure, nuclear facilities, and missile and drone arsenal.
Barrack also drew a line against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly vowed to topple Iran's clerical leadership ahead of Israeli elections on Tuesday. "If you keep threatening the world, our allies, the Gulf, there will be a consequence. The consequence won't be regime change," Barrack said. "The United States — the president of the United States — has said he's not interested in regime change," he added. "The problem with regime change always is, what's the day-two scenario?" Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, has said there are no indications of a need to strike before the election — but that if Israel determines a strike is necessary, it will carry it out.
The region's reaction on Friday pushed the other way. After meeting counterparts from Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Britain and Italy in Istanbul, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said: "We are all in agreement that a new attack on Iran would expand the war in the region. A military intervention on Iran is not in any way a solution. Nobody approves this at the moment." French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said renewed escalation would only have losers and would raise oil prices — which jumped Friday as traders weighed a possible weekend strike.
So the weekend begins with an envoy predicting a strike within days, a war plan reportedly drawn up for after the midterms, allies urging diplomacy, and the one man who can give the order claiming no knowledge of his ambassador's warning: "He is a powerful man, I guess. I don't know anything about it."