"So Iran is a place that was extremely hostile when I first came into office," Trump told British television station ITV.

"They were a terrorist nation No. 1 in the world at that time and probably maybe are today."

When asked if he thought he would need to take military action, he said: "There's always a chance. Do I want to? No. I'd rather not. But there's always a chance."

When asked if he was prepared to talk to Rouhani: Trump replied, "Yeah of course. I would much rather talk."

On Tuesday, Trump warned that Iran's potential acquisition of nuclear weapons, and that of any other rogue country, was a paramount concern to his administration.

"Among the pressing threats facing our nations is the development and spread of nuclear weapons – perhaps that's our biggest threat," Trump said during a press conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May following a meeting at her residence.

"The United States and the United Kingdom are determined to ensure that Iran never develops nuclear weapons and stops supporting and engaging in terrorism," he stressed, before adding: "And I believe that will happen."

Speaking alongside Trump in London, May said the two nations differed on how to limit the threat from Iran.

The U.K. still supports the 2015 international agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions but Trump has withdrawn the U.S. from the deal.

"The U.K. continues to stand by the [Iran] nuclear deal. It is clear that we both want to reach the same goal," May said.

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"Among the pressing threats facing our nations is the development and spread of nuclear weapons – perhaps that's our biggest threat," Trump said during a press conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May following a meeting at her residence.

"The United States and the United Kingdom are determined to ensure that Iran never develops nuclear weapons and stops supporting and engaging in terrorism," he stressed, before adding: "And I believe that will happen."

Speaking alongside Trump in London, May said the two nations differed on how to limit the threat from Iran.

The U.K. still supports the 2015 international agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions, but Trump has withdrawn the U.S. from the deal. "The U.K. continues to stand by the [Iran] nuclear deal. It is clear that we both want to reach the same goal," May said.

Meanwhile, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country will continue resisting U.S. economic and political pressure on his country.

Khamenei spoke Tuesday on the anniversary of the death of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, in Khomeini's mausoleum.

Without referring to the U.S. by name, Khamenei said "standing and resisting the enemy's excessive demands and bullying is the only way to stop him."

Khamenei added: "Resistance has a cost, but the cost of surrendering to the enemy is higher."

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week the U.S. was willing to talk with Iran "with no preconditions." Iran has rejected that offer, saying the U.S. must first return to the deal and lift the sanctions it imposed.

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She is expected to be replaced by a fellow member of the Conservative Party. Former U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is the overwhelming favorite.

"We sincerely thank Theresa May for being a true friend to the Jewish community during her time in office," said Board of Deputies of British Jews president Marie van der Zyl in a statement.

Among her accomplishments for U.K. Jewry, said van der Zyl, was that her "government has adopted the [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition of anti-Semitism; marked the Balfour Centenary with pride; banned terror organization Hezbollah; increased security funding" and opposed "anti-Israel bias at the U.N. Human Rights Council."

The U.K.-based Jewish Chronicle also saluted May.

"If Theresa May's overall achievements as Prime Minister are difficult to highlight – for British Jews she will be remembered by most as a leader who offered them and Israel unprecedented support," wrote the paper's political editor, Lee Harpin.

Harpin noted May speaking out against U.K. Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn for his and his party's history of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias, "often challenging and defeating him in heated Commons exchanges on the issue."

"Even when she was fighting the toughest [political] battles, she made time for Jewish causes," he added.

Harpin cited May's speech in September at the United Jewish Israel Appeal dinner, where she said, "It sickens me that anyone should feel like that in our country. I do not underestimate the threat posed by those who promote anti-Semitism or hatred in any form. Nor the pernicious nature of what those people say and what they stand for."

"Criticizing the actions of Israel is never, and can never be, an excuse for questioning Israel's right to exist; any more than criticizing Britain's actions could be an excuse for questioning our right to exist," she added.

On Twitter, Great Britain's chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, reinforced May as an ally of the Jewish community.

"The Jewish community will look back on the premiership of @theresa_maywith deep gratitude for her friendship – in particular, her commitment to challenging antisemitism wherever it is found, Holocaust memorial and the physical protection of our community. She has always … been and will forever remain a true 'ohevet Yisrael' [Lover of Israel]. May she know only blessing and success in the future," he tweeted.

This article is reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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She will stay as caretaker prime minister until the new leader is chosen, a process likely to take several weeks. The new Conservative leader would then become prime minister without the need for a general election.

Her voice breaking, May said in a televised statement that she would be leaving a job that it has been "the honor of my life to hold."

May has bowed to relentless pressure from her party to quit over her failure to take Britain out of the European Union on schedule.

Her departure will trigger a party leadership contest in which any Conservative lawmaker can run. The early front-runner is Boris Johnson, a former foreign secretary and strong champion of Brexit.

Britain is currently due to leave the EU on Oct. 31, but Parliament has yet to approve divorce terms.

Pressure on May to quit over her failure to get Parliament's approval for a European Union divorce deal reached critical point this week as House of Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom quit and several Cabinet colleagues expressed doubts about her Brexit bill.

With her authority draining away by the hour, May on Thursday delayed plans to publish the EU withdrawal bill — her fourth attempt to secure Parliament's backing for her Brexit blueprint.

May became prime minister in July 2016, and her premiership has been consumed by the so-far-unsuccessful attempt to leave the EU.

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Lawmakers voted 325 to 306 that they had confidence in May's government, just 24 hours after handing her European Union withdrawal deal a crushing defeat that left Britain's exit from the bloc in disarray.

With the clock ticking down to March 29, the date set in law for Brexit, the United Kingdom is now in the deepest political crisis in half a century as it grapples with how, or even whether, to exit the European project it joined in 1973.

After the results of the confidence vote were announced to cheers from her Conservative lawmakers, May said she believed parliament had a duty to find a solution that delivered on the 2016 Brexit referendum result.

But with lawmakers (MPs) deadlocked on the way forward, the United Kingdom could face a disorderly "no-deal" Brexit, a delay to Brexit, or even another referendum on membership.

"Now MPs have made clear what they don't want, we must all work constructively together to set out what parliament does want," May said in a statement outside her Downing Street office.

"That's why I am inviting MPs from all parties to come together to find a way forward. This is now the time to put self-interest aside."

After the confidence vote, May met several party leaders, but the main opposition leader, Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, refused to hold talks unless a no-deal Brexit was ruled out.

The votes on Tuesday and Wednesday crystallized the problem May faces; trying to win over pro-EU supporters in her own and other parties without alienating those who keep her in power – for instance, by giving up the "no-deal Brexit" that they see as a crucial bargaining chip.

Hardline Conservative Brexit-supporters, who last month made an unsuccessful attempt to oust her, and the Northern Irish party that props up her minority government will not countenance a deal that keeps close ties with the EU.

"The confidence and supply arrangement [to support May] of course is built upon delivering Brexit on the basis of our shared priorities," said Nigel Dodds, deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.

However, Corbyn said no positive talks were possible unless a no-deal Brexit was taken off the table. His party wants a permanent customs union with the EU, a close relationship with its single market and greater protections for workers and consumers.

May's spokesman said she was not ruling out a no-deal option and that it was government policy to be outside an EU customs union. Critics said this meant May was not budging from the deal that had alienated all sides in parliament.

Other opposition parties wrote to Corbyn after the confidence vote to demand he now back a second referendum, which Labour has agreed should be considered if it cannot force an election.

However, he and other senior political figures fear that stopping Brexit could alienate the 17.4 million people who voted to leave.

Sterling was trading just off two-month highs against the euro after May won the confidence vote, with many investors believing the prospect of a no-deal exit had receded as parliament hardened its stance against it.

Companies warned of catastrophic job losses and chaos at ports if there was no deal. Trade with the EU would then default to basic World Trade Organization rules, which many argue would disrupt innumerable manufacturing supply chains relying on rapid, friction-free trade.

Ever since Britain voted by 52-48 percent to leave the EU in June 2016, the political class has been debating how to leave the European project forged by France and Germany after the devastation of World War II.

Tuesday's crushing defeat appears to have killed off May's two-year strategy of forging an amicable divorce in which a status-quo transition period would be followed by Britain operating an independent trade policy alongside close ties to the EU, the world's biggest single market.

Other members of the EU, which combined have about six times Britain's economic might, called for discussion but indicated there was little chance of fundamental change to the deal May had negotiated.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that "the time for playing games is now over."

For the EU, already reeling from crises over debt and refugees, Brexit may be the biggest blow in its 60-year history, though its 27 other members have shown remarkable unity on the issue.

Brexit supporters anticipate some short-term economic pain but say Britain will then thrive if cut loose from what they cast as a doomed experiment in German-dominated unity.

Opponents of Brexit say it is folly that will weaken the West, make Britain poorer and torpedo what remains of its post-imperial clout.

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May told a United Jewish Israel Appeal dinner she was "sickened" by the idea that some Jews questioned whether Britain was a safe place to raise their children.

Labour has been angrily divided this year over pockets of anti-Semitism which Corbyn himself has acknowledged. Critics suggest he should step down for failing to tackle the issue.

A poll in Britain's Jewish Chronicle earlier this month said that 40% of Jews would consider emigrating if Corbyn won power in a national election.

In August Britain's former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks called Corbyn an anti-Semite and said comments about Zionists made by him in 2013, before he was Labour's leader, were the most offensive by a senior UK politician in half a century.

Corbyn said five years ago that British Zionists "don't understand English irony" despite "having lived in this country for a very long time."

"If we are to stand up for the values that we share – then one of the things we need to do is give young Jewish people the confidence to be proud of their identity – as British, Jewish and Zionist, too," May said.

"There is no contradiction between these identities – and we must never let anyone try to suggest that there should be."

Corbyn, a veteran campaigner for Palestinian rights who has moved Labour to the Left, has pledged to eradicate anti-Semitism. This month Labour adopted an internationally accepted definition of anti-Semitism in hopes of ending the row.

Last month, Corbyn said in his 2013 comments he had been describing some pro-Israel activists as Zionists, an explanation that failed to calm the furor.

May said in her speech on Monday, "Nothing excuses anti-Semitism – not comedy, not satire, not even irony."

May said she was committed to strong economic ties between Britain and Israel.

"You can also count on my commitment to Israel's security," she said.

"I am clear that we will always support Israel's right to defend itself."

Current opinion polls show Labour roughly level with May's Conservatives.

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