US President Donald Trump has told senior aides that he approved of attack plans for Iran, but was holding off to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear programme, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the deliberations.

Asked if he had decided whether to strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities, Trump said, “I may do it, I may not do it.”

The US president also reiterated his insistence on Iran’s “unconditional surrender”: “The next week is going to be very big, maybe less than a week.”