Donald Trump, with two months left in office, asked for options on attacking Iran’s main nuclear site last week but ultimately decided against taking the dramatic step, a US official said on Monday.
The US president made the request during an Oval Office meeting on Thursday with his top national security aides, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, new acting Defence Secretary Christopher Miller and General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the official said.
[ATTACH=full]334716[/ATTACH]
https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-considered-attacking-iran-022023184.html
Our Foreign Staff
Tue, November 17, 2020, 5:20 AM GMT+3
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/1S5e775.pc96exCPOMzQPg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTYwMC41NzY-/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/Qj7z1KRjbxEzFOGxSsvbUQ--~B/aD0xNTY0O3c9MjUwMDthcHBpZD15dGFjaHlvbg--/https://media.zenfs.com/en-GB/the_telegraph_258/f8750fa83939ba82bdf589fae2e36b6c
Mr Trump asked advisers about the possibility of launching an attack - REUTERS
Donald Trump, with two months left in office, asked for options on attacking Iran’s main nuclear site last week but ultimately decided against taking the dramatic step, a US official said on Monday.
The US president made the request during an Oval Office meeting on Thursday with his top national security aides, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, new acting Defence Secretary Christopher Miller and General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the official said.
Mr Trump, who has refused to concede and is challenging the results of the presidential election, is due to hand over power to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden on January 20.
The official confirmed the account of the meeting in The New York Times, which reported that the advisers persuaded Mr Trump not to go ahead with a strike because of the risk of a broader conflict.
“He asked for options. They gave him the scenarios and he ultimately decided not to go forward,” the official said.
The White House declined to comment.
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/QAkSo0XlX77agwlMg1AnMQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en-GB/the_telegraph_258/3218b58365824126e2a1f35b12993aaf
Natanz is Iran’s main nuclear facility - REUTERS
Mr Trump has spent all four years of his presidency engaging in an aggressive policy against Iran, withdrawing in 2018 from the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, and imposing economic sanctions against a wide variety of Iranian targets.
His request for options came a day after a UN atomic watchdog report showed that Iran had finished moving a first cascade of advanced centrifuges from an above-ground plant at its main uranium enrichment site to an underground one, in a fresh breach of its 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.
Iran’s 2.4-tonne stock of low-enriched uranium is now far above the deal’s 202.8kg limit. It produced 337.5kg in the quarter, less than the more than 500kg recorded in the previous two quarters by the International Atomic Energy Agency.