WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was meeting with his national security team in Washington on Tuesday to discuss the escalating Middle East conflict, according to people familiar with the matter, fueling fresh speculation that the U.S. is on the verge of joining Israel’s attack on Iran.

Before gathering his advisers in the White House Situation Room, Trump posted a demand for Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” and warned of a possible strike against the country’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump posted on social media.

Israel also sought to ratchet up pressure on Iran, signaling it will intensify a campaign of air strikes that have targeted the country’s nuclear facilities as well as military leaders and infrastructure. U.S. weapons are seen as key to achieving a more complete destruction of the Islamic Republic’s atomic program than anything Israel can do alone.

The escalating war began with an Israeli attack late last week and has seen the sworn enemies trade missile salvos for five days. Trump departed early from the Group of Seven leaders meeting in Canada to deal with the crisis.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who’s also attending that summit, told the country’s public broadcaster ZDF that a U.S. decision on whether to join the war militarily would come “in the course of the day” and said that if Iran doesn’t return to the negotiating table, then “the complete destruction of Iran’s nuclear program may be on the agenda.”

Iran had been negotiating with the U.S. for weeks over a nuclear deal before Israel launched its surprise assault.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to step up the campaign on Tuesday, saying the military will attack “very significant targets in Tehran” and adding that residents should evacuate. Earlier in the day, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said that, while it’s too early to assess the success of the current campaign in Iran, strikes on the country’s nuclear facilities are “deepening” every day.

Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency cited the country’s armed forces chief of staff as saying that it plans a “punitive operation” against Israel and warned Israelis to evacuate Tel Aviv and Haifa.

Trump earlier Tuesday posted on social media that “we now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” crediting U.S. military equipment for helping Israel gain air superiority.

Katz didn’t elaborate on what targets Israel might aim to hit and Trump hasn’t spelled out his next steps.

Vice President JD Vance told reporters Tuesday that Trump is “making clear to the American people and the entire world that the U.S. policy is that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon, and part of that is that they are not allowed” to enrich uranium, adding that “there are many different ways and different options at the president’s disposal for how to accomplish that policy goal.”

U.S. stocks declined on Tuesday as Trump played down the possibility of negotiations with Iran, fueling widespread fears the war will spread to other countries in the oil- and gas-producing region.

Trump’s exit from the G-7 followed another 24 hours of intense bombardments, with Iran firing ballistic missiles and Israel striking targets across the Islamic Republic, including the capital of Tehran. The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group is sailing to the Middle East ahead of schedule, marking the first significant move of American military assets to the region since Friday. Reuters reported that the U.S. military was deploying more fighters and other warplanes to the region.

New satellite images suggest Israeli strikes damaged underground uranium-enrichment facilities at Natanz, Iran’s primary nuclear-fuel production site, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said in a post on X. The International Atomic Energy Agency has yet to detect damage at Iran’s other underground enrichment site in Fordow, according to the statement.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a longtime advocate of war against Iran, said he “100% supports” U.S. participation in striking Fordow.

“I’m all in for destroying their nuclear program. You can’t do it without destroying Fordow,” he told reporters in Washington. “If it takes bombs, bunker-buster bombs, so be it. If we need to fly with Israel, so be it.” Graham added that “the window for diplomacy has passed, we’re in the land of force.”

Israel has sought to draw the U.S. — which has provided defensive support against Iranian missile fire — deeper into the conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC News on Monday that the countries share a common enemy in Iran, and that it’s in America’s interest to support Israel.

Trump has left open the possibility of further talks on Iran’s atomic activities after five earlier rounds, but continued to hammer the idea that Tehran is at fault for not having already agreed to a deal that would have prevented Israel’s attacks. He told reporters that he “may” send a high-level official, such as special envoy Steven Witkoff or Vance, to meet with Iran.

Trump is “telling Iran you can put a stop to this,” Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley said after speaking with the president on Tuesday.

Israel said it saw a drop-off in Iranian fire on Tuesday, with a military spokesperson saying “a few dozen” missiles had been launched since midnight compared with the hundreds seen over the weekend.

Still, Israel’s Oil Refineries Ltd. shut down its refinery after the complex was damaged and three employees were killed, the company said Monday. The site has a peak production capacity of close to 200,000 barrels of oil per day, with 70% of products distributed in the Israeli market, according to the company’s website.

Israeli petrol station chain Sonol, which has 245 gasoline stations in the country, warned Tuesday that the closure of the Haifa refinery will likely cause disruptions to fuel supply to its Israeli customers, according to the Globes newspaper.

Long-standing tensions between Iran and Israel erupted into open fighting last week, when Israel launched surprise attacks on Iranian military and nuclear sites and killed senior commanders and atomic scientists. Since then, it has achieved air superiority over much of Iran, allowing it to bomb major cities and infrastructure at will.

For Iran’s government, the showdown poses a strategic dilemma. It can’t risk appearing weak, yet its retaliatory options are shrinking. Proxy forces it supports across the region have been largely degraded by Israeli wars since Oct. 2023.

More than 200 people have been killed in Iran by Israel’s strikes, according to the last official tally from the Iranian government. In Israel, the government has said 24 people have been killed — the same number reported the day prior — and over 600 injured.

Oil prices have climbed in the past week as the conflict escalated, raising concerns about a wider hit to the global economy. Many analysts say Iran has the ability to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a key energy trade route. Qatar on Tuesday asked liquefied natural gas vessels to wait outside the strait until they’re ready to load amid the escalating tensions.

Two large tankers collided and caught fire near the strait early on Tuesday. The owner of one of them said the incident was “unrelated to the current regional conflict.”

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(With assistance from Erik Wasson, Natalia Drozdiak, Alisa Odenheimer, Jonathan Tirone, Dan Williams and Steven T. Dennis.)

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