US President Donald Trump commented on Israel's conflict with Iran on Thursday, saying, "It would be nice" if Israel would avoid escalation involving striking Iran's military facilities.
The statements came when he was asked by a reporter at the Oval Office what he thought about a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities as he signed executive orders.
"It would really be nice if that could be worked out without having to go that further step," Trump responded.
“Iran will hopefully make a deal, and if they don’t make a deal, that’s okay too,” he added.
Tensions in the Middle East
This comes after Iran on Thursday condemned a move by Trump to re-designate Yemen's Tehran-aligned Houthi movement as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), calling the decision "baseless."
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that the move, which will impose harsher economic penalties than the Biden administration had applied to the Houthis, was "an excuse to apply anti-human sanctions against the Yemeni people."