President Donald Trump would not say Wednesday whether he has decided to order a US strike on Iran, a move that Tehran warned anew would be greeted with stiff retaliation if it happens.

“I may do it, I may not do it," Trump said in an exchange with reporters at the White House . “I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.

Trump added that it’s not “too late” for Iran to give up its nuclear program as he continues to weigh direct US involvement in Israel's military operations aimed at crushing Tehran's nuclear program.

“Nothing’s too late,” Trump said. “I can tell you this. Iran’s got a lot of trouble."

“Nothing is finished until it is finished,” Trump added. But “the next week is going to be very big— maybe less than a week."

US intelligence says Iran isn’t building nuclear weapons, but Trump rejects their assessment

According to AP, Trump also offered a terse response to Iran 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 Wednesday warned that any United States strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will “result in irreparable damage for them” and that his country would not bow to Trump’s call for surrender.

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

Earlier this week, the US president said that 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 favour, 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 destabilising the situation as a whole.”