WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he doesn’t want to carry out a U.S. strike on Iran but suggested he stands ready to act if it’s necessary to extinguish Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump continued his increasingly pointed warnings about the U.S. joining Israel in striking at Tehran’s nuclear program as Iran’s leader warned anew that the United States would be greeted with stiff retaliation if it attacks.

The stakes are high for Trump — and the world — as he engages in a push-pull debate between his goals of avoiding dragging the U.S. into another war and preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“I’m not looking to fight,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “But if it’s a choice between fighting and having a nuclear weapon, you have to do what you have to do.”

In Israel, the State Department evacuated nonessential diplomats and their families from the U.S. Embassy who had asked to leave the country Wednesday, two U.S. officials said.

Trump also told reporters that it’s not “too late” for Iran to give up its nuclear program. “I can tell you this. Iran’s got a lot of trouble.”

He added that he would hold a Situation Room meeting with his national security aides as he works through his options for how the U.S. should respond to Iran.

“I may do it, I may not do it,” Trump said of a potential U.S. strike in another exchange with reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”

“Nothing is finished until it is finished,” he added, signaling a decision could come soon. “The next week is going to be very big — maybe less than a week.”

Trump also offered a terse response to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s refusal to heed to his call for Iran to submit to an unconditional surrender.

“I say good luck,” Trump said.

Khamenei earlier on Wednesday warned that any United States strikes targeting the Islamic Republic would “result in irreparable damage for them” and that his country would not bow to Trump’s call for surrender.

The second public appearance by Khamenei since the Israeli strikes began six days ago came as Israel lifted some restrictions on daily life, suggesting that the missile threat from Iran was easing.

Khamenei dismissed what he described as the “threatening and absurd statements” by Trump.

“Wise individuals who know Iran, its people and its history never speak to this nation with the language of threats, because the Iranian nation is not one to surrender,” he said in a low-resolution video, his voice echoing.

In a video address to Israelis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed appreciation for Trump’s support in the conflict, calling him “a great friend of Israel” and praising U.S. help defending Israel’s skies.

“We speak constantly, including last night,” he said Wednesday. “We had a very warm conversation.”

The latest Israeli strikes hit one facility used to make uranium centrifuges and another that made missile components, the Israeli military said. Military officials said their defenses intercepted 10 missiles overnight as Iran’s retaliatory barrages diminished. The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Israel struck two centrifuge production facilities in and near Tehran.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military also struck the headquarters of Iran’s internal security forces on Wednesday, without specifying the agency or location. The strike marks a shift toward targeting Iran’s domestic security apparatus, which has long cracked down on dissent and suppressed protests.

Israel’s air campaign has struck several nuclear and military sites, killing top generals and nuclear scientists. A Washington-based Iranian human rights group said at least 585 people, including 239 civilians, have been killed and more than 1,300 wounded.

Iran has fired some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones in strikes, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds. Some have hit apartment buildings in central Israel and air-raid sirens have repeatedly forced Israelis to seek shelter.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers Wednesday that the Pentagon was providing options to Trump as he decides next steps on Iran.

In questioning before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hegseth said it is Trump’s decision whether to provide Israel a “bunker buster” bomb to strike at the core of Iran’s nuclear program, which would require U.S. pilots flying a B-2 stealth bomber.

Trump’s increasingly muscular comments toward the Iranian government follow him urging Tehran’s 9.5 million residents to flee for their lives as he cut short his participation in an international summit earlier this week to return to Washington for urgent talks with his national security team.

Trump said the Iranian officials continue to reach out to the White House as they’re “getting the hell beaten out of them” by Israel. But he added there’s a “big difference between now and a week ago” in Tehran’s negotiating position.

“They’ve suggested that they come to the White House — that’s, you know, courageous,” Trump said.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations rebutted Trump’s claim in a statement on social media. “No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House. The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to ‘take out’ Iran’s Supreme Leader.”

Trump said earlier this week Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to serve as a mediator with Iran. But Trump said he told Putin to keep focused on finding an endgame to his own conflict with Ukraine.

“I said, ‘Do me a favor, mediate your own,’ ” Trump said he told Putin. “I said, ‘Vladimir, let’s mediate Russia first. You can worry about this later.’ ”

The comments were a shift from Trump who earlier this week said he was “open” to Putin’s offer to mediate.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier Wednesday that Moscow has cautioned Washington against offering direct military assistance to Israel.

“We are warning Washington against even speculative, hypothetical considerations of the sort,” Ryabkov said, according to the Interfax news agency. “That would be a step drastically destabilizing the situation as a whole.”

The Russia-Iran relationship has deepened since Putin launched a war on Ukraine in February 2022, with Tehran providing Moscow with drones, ballistic missiles, and other support, according to U.S. intelligence findings.