US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the US military could deploy troops to Nigeria or carry out air strikes to stop what he called the killing of large numbers of Christians in the West African country.
Asked if he envisioned troops on the ground or air strikes in Nigeria, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: "Could be. I mean, other things. I envisage a lot of things.
"They're killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria ... They're killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We're not going to allow that to happen."
Trump made the comment on Sunday evening as he headed back to Washington after a weekend at his vacation home in Florida.
Trump threatened on Saturday to take military action against Nigeria if Africa's most populous country failed to crack down on the killing of Christians.
The US president's threat of military action came a day after his administration added Nigeria back to a "Countries of Particular Concern" list of nations that the US says have violated religious freedoms. Other nations on the list include China, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Pakistan.
Hours after Trump's statement, Nigeria said on Sunday it would welcome US help in fighting Islamist insurgents as long as its territorial integrity is respected.
"We welcome U.S. assistance as long as it recognises our territorial integrity," Daniel Bwala, an adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, told Reuters.
Bwala sought to play down tensions between the two states, despite Trump calling Nigeria a "disgraced country."
"We don't take it literally, because we know Donald Trump thinks well of Nigeria," Bwala said.
"I am sure by the time these two leaders meet and sit, there would be better outcomes in our joint resolve to fight terrorism," he said.
Nigeria, a country of more than 200 million people and around 200 ethnic groups, is divided between the largely Muslim north and mostly Christian south.
Insurgents such as Boko Haram and Daesh West Africa Province have wrought havoc in the country for more than 15 years, killing thousands of people, but their attacks have been largely confined to the northeast of the country, which is majority Muslim.
While Christians have been killed, the vast majority of the victims have been Muslims, analysts say.
In central Nigeria, there have been frequent clashes between mostly Muslim herders and mainly Christian farmers over access to water and pasture, while in the northwest of the country, gunmen routinely attack villages, kidnapping residents for ransom.
Nigeria "does not discriminate against any tribe or religion in the fight against insecurity," Bwala said. "There is no Christian genocide."
On Ukraine, Trump said he was not really considering giving Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles. Asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One if he was not considering providing the weapons to Ukraine, Trump responded: "No, not really."
On October 12, Trump had said he may offer long-range Tomahawk missiles that could be used by Kyiv if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not end the war in Ukraine.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to Israel that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed Zelenskiy's request for weaponry, including Tomahawks.
Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2,500 km (1,550 miles), long enough to strike deep inside Russia, including Moscow.
The Kremlin has warned against any provision of Tomahawks to Ukraine, and Trump said they would be "a new step of aggression" if introduced into the war.
He also said he will not attend the Supreme Court's upcoming oral arguments concerning the legality of his global tariffs.
Justices have a Wednesday hearing scheduled for arguments on the tariffs case. Trump told reporters on Air Force One that despite his desire to be there, he does not want to create a distraction during the hearing.
"I wanted to go so badly," Trump said as he flew back to Washington after a weekend in Florida. "I just don't want to do anything to deflect the importance of that decision. … I don't want to call a lot of attention to me. It's not about me, it's about our country."
Arguments before the highest US court on Wednesday will centre on the legality of Trump's sweeping global tariffs in a major test of one of his boldest assertions of executive power, regarding an issue that has been central to his economic and trade agenda.
The Supreme Court took up the Justice Department's appeal of a lower court's ruling that Trump overstepped his authority in imposing most of his tariffs under a 1977 law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The tariffs were challenged by various businesses and 12 US states.
Trump defended his use of tariffs to balance global trade flows, citing years of high duties charged by other countries on US imports. He said his tariffs had increased US revenues and driven the stock markets to a series of record highs.
"If we don't have tariffs, we don't have national security, and the rest of the world would laugh at us because they've used tariffs against us for years and took advantage of us," he said.
"We were subject to being abused by a lot of other countries, including China. For years, not anymore. Tariffs have brought us tremendous national security," he said.