President Donald Trump is weighing a major new strike on Iran after preliminary discussions between Washington and Tehran over limiting the country’s nuclear program and ballistic missile production failed to make progress, according to people familiar with the matter
Trump’s latest threats were met with indignation by Tehran, which vowed an immediate response to any US military action, with one top adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatening to target Israel if an attack goes ahead.
It’s a rapid refocusing of the US administration’s publicly framed objectives for Iran and comes only weeks after Trump seriously considered military action he framed as potential aid for nationwide protests in Iran. Protesters had faced violent crackdowns by security forces leading to hundreds of killings.Trump on Wednesday posted on Truth Social demanding that Iran come to the table to negotiate “a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS.” He warned the next US attack on the country “will be far worse” than the one it carried out last summer, when the US military attacked three of Iran’s nuclear sites.
Options he is now considering include US military airstrikes aimed at Iran’s leaders and the security officials believed to be responsible for the killings, as well as strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and government institutions, the sources said. Trump has not made a final decision on how to proceed, sources said, but he believes his military options have been expanded from earlier this month now that a US carrier strike group is in the region.
The USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group entered the Indian Ocean on Monday and is continuing to move closer to Iran where it could support any potential operations against the country, both in terms of aiding in strikes and in protecting regional allies from potential Iranian retaliation.
The US and Iran had been exchanging messages — including through Omani diplomats and between Trump’s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi — earlier this month about a possible meeting to ward off a US attack, which Trump had been threatening in response to protesters’ deaths, the sources said.
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