US President Donald Trump on Wednesday refused to confirm or deny the possibility of a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, maintaining strategic ambiguity while addressing reporters at the White House.

Asked whether the US was edging closer to targeting Iran’s nuclear sites, Trump responded, “I can’t say that, you don’t seriously think I’m going to answer that question.”

Continuing, the president added, “You don’t know that I’m going to even do it. You don’t know. I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”

Trump also suggested that Iran was now showing interest in negotiations, saying, “Iran’s got a lot of trouble and they want to negotiate. And I said, ‘Why didn’t you negotiate with me before – all this death and destruction? Why didn’t you negotiate? I said to the people, Why didn’t you negotiate with me two weeks ago? You could have done fine. You would have had a country.”

The president’s comments come amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran, as diplomatic efforts hang in the balance.