Trump Sought Ways to Attack Iran’s ‘Main Nuclear Site’ in ‘Coming Weeks’, Report Claims
Monday 16 November 2020
SMA News – USA
President Trump’s advisors have apparently dissuaded him from ordering a military strike, warning that it would escalate the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran “in the last weeks of Trump’s presidency”, according to a report by The New York Times.
Donald Trump was reportedly mulling an attack on Iran’s “main nuclear site” in “the coming weeks”, asking his advisors whether he had such an option during a meeting at the Oval office on Thursday, The New York Times reported, citing “current and former US officials”.
The advisors, among whom were US Vice President Mike Pence, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting Defence Secretary Christopher Miller and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, reportedly dissuaded Trump from the attack, voicing concerns that it would escalate “into a broader conflict in the last weeks of Mr. Trump’s presidency”.
The report emerged amid allegations that Trump was attempting to “sabotage the Biden administration”, as media in the US have described the Democratic candidate as the winner of the White House race, although official election results remain unannounced. Trump, as the sitting president, refuses to concede, insisting that the election was “rigged”.
According to The NYT, a strike against Iran, if conducted, would “almost certainly” target Natanz – an Iranian nuclear plant generally considered to be a central facility for uranium enrichment.
The reported Oval Office meeting allegedly took place a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported a significant increase in the Iranian stockpile of nuclear material – 12 times larger than allowed in the 2015 Iran nuclear accord that Trump unilaterally exited in 2018.
In 20 June, 2019, Trump abruptly reversed an airstrike against Iran that was planned as a retaliatory move for shooting down a US surveillance drone. That time, however, the attack was allegedly cancelled just minutes before it was to be conducted.
