Trump gives Iran 24 hours to agree terms but defiant Ayatollah fires blunt warning

IRAN has under 24 hours to accept US terms or face attacks, as Donald Trump considers dragging America into Israel’s war with Tehran.

- Christopher Bucktin US Editor

Senior White House officials confirmed the coming day would be decisive in determining whether diplomacy could avert a new Middle East conflict.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, responded with a direct warning to Washington on state television yesterday. He said: “Americans should know that any military involvement by the US will undoubtedly result in irreparable damage to them.”

His comments followed a fiery barrage of posts by President Trump, threatening action and declaring: “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”

In one, he said: “I know where Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei is hiding...but would not launch a strike yet.”

Yesterday, Mr Trump said he had not yet decided whether the US military should join Israel’s attacks on Iran.

Asked about America taking part in attacks on Tehran’s nuclear and military facilities, he said: “I may do it, I may not do it. Nobody knows what I’m going to do.”

And on whether he believed it was too late to negotiate a new deal to halt Iran’s nuclear programme, which he wants its government to abandon, Mr Trump said: “Nothing’s too late.”

He then claimed Iran had sought talks, and had even suggested sending a delegation for discussions at the White House.