WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump left open the possibility of U.S. military action against Iran during a spontaneous press appearance Wednesday, following a Situation Room briefing and a ceremony installing two massive flagpoles on the White House.

Standing next to workers about to install the flagpoles, Trump addressed growing speculation over whether the United States would join Israel in attacking Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. “I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” the president said, offering his first public remarks since the latest developments in the Iran-Israel conflict.

Trump indicated that he had encouraged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue his military campaign, stating, “So far he’s doing a great job.”

Acknowledging a divide among his base, Trump noted, “Some are a little bit unhappy” with his approach toward Iran, but countered that “some people that are very happy.” He reinforced his unwavering stance on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, saying: “All I’m doing is saying you can’t have a nuclear weapon. I’m trying to do it nicely, and then on day 61, I said, let’s go.”

The president revealed that Iran has reached out to the White House seeking to reopen diplomatic channels. But he dismissed the gesture as too little, too late. “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?’” Trump said. “Why didn’t you negotiate with me two weeks ago? You could have done fine. You would have had a country.”

When asked about reports that Israel has crippled Iran’s air defense network, Trump appeared to hint at U.S. involvement without giving specifics. “We’ve totally captured the air,” he said, echoing a similar post he had made the day before on Truth Social.

Trump did not hold back in condemning Iran’s regime. “For 40 years they’ve been saying, ‘Death to America, death to Israel,’ death to anybody else that they didn’t like. They were bullies,” he said. “They were schoolyard bullies, and now they’re not bullies anymore, but we’ll see what happens. Look, nothing’s finished until it’s finished.”

He emphasized again that the Islamic Republic cannot be allowed to possess nuclear weapons, painting a vivid and ominous picture of the threat they could pose. “Is there anybody here that said it would be OK to have to have a hostile — very zealous, really — but to have a hostile country have a nuclear weapon that could destroy 25 miles, but much more than that, could destroy other nations, just by the breeze blowing the dust?” Trump asked. “That dust blows to other nations and they get decimated. This is just not a threat you can have. And we’ve been threatened by Iran for many years.”

As the press conference drew to a close, a reporter asked if he had a message for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump’s reply was curt: “Good luck.”

When pressed on when his patience would run out, he replied bluntly: “It’s already run out.”