US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he hopes the Iranian nuclear crisis can be solved without Israel having to carry out a military strike against the Islamic Republic.

Axar.az reports that this was shared by The Times of Israel.

The publication reports the remarks came after it was reported that Trump is planning to name his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as his point man on Iran, signaling the new administration’s resolve to address Tehran’s nuclear program diplomatically rather than militarily.

It was noted that Trump refused to answer questions from journalists in the Oval Office about whether the U.S. would support Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, saying he would hold meetings with senior officials on the matter.

“Hopefully that can be worked out without having to worry about it. It would really be nice if that could be worked out without having to go that further step,” Trump continued.

The publication states that his administration has signaled in recent days that it wants to try and reach a diplomatic agreement with Iran to curb its nuclear program, rather than carrying out a military strike.