US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was approaching a major decision on whether to resume large-scale attacks on Iran, as Washington weighs how to bring the months-long war to an end, according to a report published by Barak Ravid of Israel’s Channel 12 and US news outlet Axios.

“I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not?” Trump told Ravid in a phone interview. “It’s a big decision. Anything could happen with me.”

The comments come days before Trump was set to meet the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, with the future of the Iran war expected to be a central focus.

Trump said he intends to use the meeting to gauge the Gulf states’ positions before determining his next steps against Iran.

“I want to find out where they are and how they are doing,” Trump said. “We have been very protective of them.”

The Gulf states have been repeatedly targeted by Iran since Israel and the US launched the war against the Islamic Republic on February 28.

According to Ravid, Trump has not said whether he will make a decision on what steps to take before the US midterm elections in November or whether he will wait until after.

US officials warned that the current military posture is difficult to sustain indefinitely, with one telling Ravid, “At some point you have to decide what is the endgame.”

The US and Israel launched the war on February 28 with the stated goals of eliminating Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile threats, destabilizing the regime, and weakening its network of regional proxies.

Iran retaliated with attacks across the region and blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of world oil supplies........

© The Times of Israel