Trump: "If military action against Iran is necessary, Israel will lead the process"

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Israel would be the “leader” of a potential military strike against Iran if Tehran doesn’t give up its nuclear weapons program.

Trump made the comments ahead of this weekend's scheduled talks involving US and Iranian officials in the Middle East sultanate of Oman. Trump earlier this week said the talks would be “direct” while Iran has described the engagement as “indirect” talks with the US.

“If it requires military, we’re going to have military,” Trump said. "Israel will obviously be very much involved in that. They’ll be the leader of that. But nobody leads us, but we do what we want to do."

This is possibly the first time Trump has openly threatened Iran with an Israeli strike.

The US president said the summit in Oman on Saturday will be the “beginning” of the process. Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will represent the United States, while Iran will be represented by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.