US could strike Iran this weekend, envoy says

JERUSALEM — The United States could strike Iran as soon as this weekend, a U.S. envoy said Friday, after mounting threats by both Washington and Israel. "Could there be a strike this weekend? Absolutely," Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and point man on Syria who does not have a direct role on Iran, told podcast host Mario Nawfal. President Donald Trump "is very clear. He's open and available and accessible to a deal and we've been at the table for months and months and months," Barrack said in an interview as he visited the Gulf. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections Tuesday, has in recent days repeatedly vowed to topple the clerical state in Iran, following two major bombing campaigns against it since last year. Trump has also signalled an openness to resuming strikes after a long deadlock in diplomacy, although he earlier said it would not happen before U.S. congressional elections on November 3. Barrack, in remarks that contradict Netanyahu, said the U.S. was not looking to topple the Islamic republic, a sworn enemy of the United States and Israel