President Donald Trump on Thursday wouldn’t say an attack by Israel on Iran was imminent, but warned it «could happen» as the U.S. continues to pressure Tehran on a nuclear deal, but simultaneously prepares evacuations from the Middle East. 

«I don’t want to say imminent, but it looks like it’s something that could very well happen,» Trump said. «Look, it’s very simple, not complicated. Iran can not have a nuclear weapon. 

«Other than that, I want them to be successful,» he continued. «We’ll help them be successful, will trade with them. We’ll do whatever is necessary.»

Trump said ultimately he’d «love to avoid the conflict,» but said that Iran is going to have to negotiate a «little bit tougher.»

HEGSETH AUTHORIZES VOLUNTARY DEPARTURE OF MILITARY DEPENDENTS FROM ACROSS MIDDLE EAST AMID RISING TENSIONS

«Meaning they’re going to have to give us some things that they’re not willing to give us right now,» he said in apparent reference to Iran’s so far refusal to give up nuclear enrichment capabilities. 

The president said the U.S. and Iran are «fairly close to a pretty good agreement» but then added, «It’s got to be better than pretty good though.»

Trump on Wednesday told reporters that the U.S. has advised some evacuation efforts in the Middle East as the security situation with Tehran could become «dangerous» amid uncertain nuclear negotiations. 

«They are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place,» Trump said.  «We’ve given notice to move out, and we’ll see what happens.»

The president’s comments came after the U.S. embassy in Iraq ordered a partial evacuation of non-emergency government personnel and military dependents have been authorized to leave locations around the Middle East.

A view of the U.S. Embassy building and its surroundings in Baghdad, Iraq on Jun. 11, 2025. The U.S. Department of State has decided to withdraw some personnel from the U.S. Embassy located in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. (Murtadha AL-Sudani/Anadolu via Getty Images)

HEGSETH AUTHORIZES VOLUNTARY DEPARTURE OF MILITARY DEPENDENTS FROM ACROSS MIDDLE EAST AMID RISING TENSIONS

Reports originally claimed similar orders had been issued in Bahrain and Kuwait, though no notices have been posted to the U.S. embassy in Kuwait, and the embassy in Bahrain said that reports that it «has changed its posture in any way are false» and staffing operations remain «unchanged and activities continue as normal.»

Embassies near Iran have been ordered to hold emergency action committees and report back to DC on their risk-mitigation plans.

No U.S. troops have been pulled from the Middle East at this time. 

The State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s questions on why Iraq was deemed particularly dangerous when similar notices have not been issued in other nations surrounding Iran. 

Bahrain holds the highest number of military families according to reports, and though no embassy or military changes have been made, Trump on Thursday said, «We have a lot of American people in this area. And I said, we got to tell them to get out because something could happen soon, and I don’t want to be the one that didn’t give any warning and missiles are flying into their buildings.

«It’s possible. So I had to do it,» he added. 

When asked this week how the U.S. can calm the escalating security situation in the region, Trump did not provide a direct answer, but said, «They can’t have a nuclear weapon. Very simply, they can’t have a nuclear weapon. We’re not going to allow that.»

The status of negotiation progress remains unclear as Special Envoy Steve Witkoff prepares to head to Oman on Sunday for the sixth round of direct and indirect nuclear negotiations with Iran, Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi confirmed on Thursday. 

An infographic titled «Nuclear talks between Iran and the US» created in Ankara, Turkiye on Jun. 11, 2025. The sixth round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the US will be held on Jun. 15 in Muscat, the capital of Oman. (Murat Usubali/Anadolu via Getty Images)

IRAN BECOMING ‘MUCH MORE AGGRESSIVE’ IN NUCLEAR TALKS, TRUMP TELLS FOX NEWS

The negotiations have become increasingly strained in recent weeks and appear to have reached an impasse over the levels of enriched uranium.

The U.S. has repeatedly said Iran must not be allowed to have any enrichment programs, including for civil energy use – of which Iran contributes less than 1% of its overall energy needs to nuclear energy.

Iran has thus far flatly refused to abandon all nuclear enrichment, and it remains unclear what it would be required to do with the stockpiles of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium that it currently possesses – which it drastically increased over a three-month period earlier this year.

The IAEA began sounding the alarm last month that Iran had increased its stockpiles by nearly 35% between February and May, when the nuclear watchdog said its stores had jumped from roughly 605.8 pounds worth of uranium enriched to 60% to 900.8 pounds by mid-May.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei attends Nowruz events in Tehran, Iran on Mar. 21, 2025. Nowruz is considered as the beginning of the new year according to the Iranian calendar.  (Iranian Leader Press Office Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The Institute for Science and International Security assessed earlier this week that Iran could further the enrichment process to create at least one nuclear warhead’s worth of weapons-grade uranium in as little as two to three days at its Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP).

Nine nuclear weapons could be made within three weeks, and in coordination with Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP), Iran could turn around 22 nuclear warheads within a five-month period, the Institute for Science and International Security claimed.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – MAY 28: U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff delivers remarks alongside President Donald Trump in the Oval Office as nuclear negotiations with Iran continue. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

TRUMP REJECTS IRAN’S COUNTER-PROPOSAL IN NUCLEAR NEGOTIATIONS: ‘IT’S JUST NOT ACCEPTABLE’

The IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors on Thursday declared Iran is in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in nearly 20 years.

The board may next take the breach to the UN Security Council, which could then be prompted to enforce severe snapback sanctions on Tehran, which Western security experts have long been urging the UNSC to pursue.

Only three nations on the board objected to the breach declaration, including Russia, China and Burkina Faso, despite years of mounting evidence of man-made highly enriched uranium, and Tehran’s refusal to grant the IAEA full access to all its nuclear facilities, which is a violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPAO). 

Tehran is still bound to the international deal, though the agreement drastically unraveled after the U.S. withdrew from the agreement in 2018 under the first Trump administration after it claimed Iran was already in breach of the terms. 

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who returned to the Hill today to testify in front of the House Armed Services Committee, told Senators on Wednesday that «There are plenty of indications that [Iran has] been moving their way towards something that would look a lot like a nuclear weapon.»

The secretary’s comments contradict assertions made by the Director of National Intelligence, who said in March that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.

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La policía trató de dispersar a los manifestantes en medio de los disturbios en Ballymena, Irlanda del Norte. Foto: REUTERS

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Una agresión sexual desató una ola de furia y manifestaciones violentas en Irlanda del Norte. Foto: AP

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Carteles que dicen «Residentes locales viven aquí, para evitar ataques xenófobos, en Ballymena, Irlanda del Norte. Foto: REUTERS

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A U.S. appeals court agreed to pause a lower court order requiring the Trump administration to provide due process to hundreds of Venezuelan migrants deported from the U.S. to El Salvador under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act in a near-term victory for the Trump administration. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted the Justice Department’s request for an administrative stay, putting on hold a lower court order handed down last week by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.

Last Wednesday, Boasberg ruled that the migrants deported solely on the basis of the Alien Enemies Act immigration law did not have prior notice of their removals or the ability to challenge their removals in court, in a violation of due process.

He ordered the Trump administration to provide migrants deported under the law the opportunity to seek habeas relief, and the opportunity to challenge their alleged gang member status that the administration had pointed to as the basis for their removal.

WHO IS JAMES BOASBERG, THE US JUDGE AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP’S DEPORTATION EFFORTS?

Boasberg had given the Trump administration through Wednesday to submit to the court plans for how it would go about providing habeas relief to the plaintiffs in CECOT, the maximum security prison in El Salvador. 

This week, lawyers for the Trump administration filed an emergency motion to stay the ruling in both the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday, one day before that plan was due, seeking additional time to respond to the underlying merits of Boasberg’s ruling.

Justice Department officials argued that Boasberg did not have jurisdiction in the case, as the migrants are detained in El Salvador, and said his order interfered «with the president’s removal of dangerous criminal aliens from the United States.»

Boasberg’s final order last week did not attempt to determine who had jurisdiction. Instead, he set the matter aside, and said the individuals could remain in custody at CECOT, so long as the government submitted plans to the court for how they would be provided a chance to challenge their removal under the Alien Enemies Act.

The Trump administration still took umbrage with that ruling, which it blasted earlier this week in their appeal as «unprecedented, baseless and constitutionally offensive.»

SUPREME COURT GRANTS TRUMP REQUEST TO LIFT STAY HALTING VENEZUELAN DEPORTATIONS

As prisoners stand looking out from a cell, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) on March 26, 2025, in Tecoluca, El Salvador. (Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)

«The district court’s increasingly fantastical injunctions continue to threaten serious harm to the government’s national-security and foreign-affairs interests,» they told the circuit court. 

The court «correctly ruled that the United States lacks constructive custody over the aliens held at CECOT and therefore that this Court lacks jurisdiction over their habeas claims,» attorneys for the Justice Department said in their motion. «That should have been the end of this case.»

That order sparked fierce backlash from senior Trump officials, who have blasted Bosaberg and other federal judges who have ruled in ways unfavorable to them as «activist judges.»

Boasberg, however, was the first federal judge to try to block Trump’s attempt to use the law to summarily deport certain migrants to El Salvador earlier this year, putting him squarely in the crosshairs of the Trump administration. 

Protesters hold signs during a march at San Francisco City Hall on May 1, 2025, in San Francisco, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

On March 15, he granted a temporary restraining order attempting to block the first wave of deportation flights to El Salvador, and ordered the administration to «immediately» return to the U.S. all planes that had already departed.

That did not happen, however, and the planes landed hours later in El Salvador.

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In the months since, Boasberg attempted to hold various fact-finding hearings to determine who knew what, and when, about the flights. 

He later found probable cause to hold the administration in contempt of the court, citing the government’s «willful disregard» for his March 15 emergency order, though those proceedings were later halted by a federal appeals court.