Trump Weighs Limited Military Strike on Iran to Add Pressure to Nuclear Deal, Report Claims
A new report trying to pierce the crafted uncertainty of President Donald Trump’s intentions toward Iran suggested that Trump may give Iran a taste of what might come if talks taking place between the two nations do not achieve the end result Trump wants.
Trump ordered an attack last year that damaged Iran’s nuclear facilities, and since then, Iran has come back into focus last month after the regime killed anti-government protesters.
Although Trump had talked of making Iran pay a price, the dearth of military assets in the region meant action was not taken.
Now, America has amassed a vast military presence in the Middle East to attack any target of Trump’s choosing, and to defend military bases and allies against any retaliation.
Meanwhile, talks have been taking place with the stated goal of ensuring Iran has no enriched uranium it could use to make a nuclear bomb. Although there have been occasional bursts of optimism in the talks, an agreement has remained elusive.
Now, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Trump is considering whether military strikes might overcome Iran’s unwillingness to make a deal.
The concept is that a limited attack would not be enough to make Iran retaliate, but enough to make Iran capitulate in negotiations.
“The opening assault, which if authorized could come within days, would target a few military or government sites,” The Wall Street Journal wrote, citing courses it did not name.
If that hard-edged nudge does not produce movement, “the U.S. would respond with a broad campaign against regime facilities — potentially aimed at toppling the Tehran regime,” the outlet reported.
The report said it was unclear what Trump actually plans to do. Last week, media reports said Trump was insistent that the talks would be able to run their course, but over the weekend made a comment that regime change in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen,” according to the New York Post.
On Thursday, Trump said “bad things will happen” if Iran stonewalls much longer, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“We may have to take it a step further or we may not. Maybe we are going to make a deal. You are going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days,” Trump said.
As noted by The New York Times, the U.S. military presence in the Middle East “includes dozens of refueling tankers, rushed to the region by United States Central Command, more than 50 additional fighter jets, and two aircraft carrier strike groups, complete with their accompanying destroyers, cruisers and submarines.”
The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which had been sent from the Caribbean Sea to the Middle East, was nearing Gibraltar on Wednesday.
“The president has always been very clear, though, with respect to Iran or any country around the world, diplomacy is always his first option, and Iran would be very wise to make a deal with President Trump and with this administration,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday.
“He’s always thinking about what’s in the best interest of the United States of America, of our military, of the American people, and that’s how he makes decisions with respect to military action,” she said.
As noted by The Wall Street Journal, Iran has been issuing volleys of bluster on social media.
On Tuesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Iran could sink a U.S. aircraft carrier and hit the American military “so hard that it cannot get up again.”
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