US Envoy Says Iran Strike Possible This Weekend; Trump Later Warns of 'Another Little Epic Fury'

On Friday, in an interview with the Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur Mario Nawfal, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack was asked whether the United States might strike Iran in the coming days. "Could there be a strike this weekend? Absolutely," he answered. Barrack also serves as President Donald Trump's special envoy, and the remark came while Pakistan and Qatar, among other regional countries, are trying to narrow the gap between Washington and Tehran.

In the same interview, Barrack insisted that the door to a deal remains open. He said he was stating American policy, that the president is available and accessible for an agreement, and that the two sides have been at the table for months. He also said the immediate nuclear threat had been dealt with, though questions of nuclear proliferation and uranium enrichment are still being negotiated.

Barrack listed other sticking points: the Strait of Hormuz, the unfreezing of Iranian assets, sanctions relief, an end to military engagement, and US commitments toward Israel. He warned that continued threats against the United States, its allies and Gulf countries would carry consequences. But he said those consequences would not amount to regime change. In his telling, Trump is not interested in that; he wants a rebalancing, so that there are no hostages and no threats and the world can calm down.

Barrack also drew a line between the Iranian people and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which he described as the adversary of both the United States and Israel. Washington, he said, wants a peaceful process, but he questioned who the United States could actually talk to. "The problem is with whom is the dialogue?" he said.

Hours later, Trump landed in Florida and was asked about his ambassador's comment. The question put to him was that Barrack had said there could absolutely be a strike on Iran this weekend. Trump replied: "That was my ambassador? He's a pretty powerful man, I guess. If that's the case, I don't know anything about." He kept his options open even as he professed ignorance.

At an election rally in Florida, his tone hardened. Trump warned Tehran that Washington might launch "another little Epic Fury" if Iran does not reach a diplomatic agreement. "We may do another little Epic Fury, or they'll agree," he told a cheering crowd. He added that if Iran's leaders are smart, they will say, "Let's get down to business," but that he doubted they would, "because perhaps they're not smart."

The sequence is notable: an envoy openly floating a weekend strike, a president distancing himself from the remark, and then the same president threatening force at a rally. Barrack's statements and Trump's do not contradict each other so much as show a dual message of open negotiation backed by explicit threat.

The timing matters too. US midterm elections are due in the first week of November, and analysts quoted in the wire report expect a spike in the West Asia conflict, with both Washington and Tehran hardening their positions. The enrichment, Hormuz, assets and sanctions questions all remain unresolved, so the coming days will show whether the mediation by Pakistan and Qatar produces movement or whether the weekend Barrack described brings action.