NY Times: Trump reviewing military options against Iran

Trump’s top national security officials offered up military plans against Iran, a report says. 

By David Isaac, World Israel News 

President Donald Trump’s top national security officials offered several military plans to the administration last Thursday, The New York Times reported on Monday. “The uppermost option called for deploying 120,000 troops, which would take weeks or months to complete,” the Times reported.

The plans, presented by Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, are meant to be implemented in the event Iran attacks U.S. forces or speeds up nuclear weapons development.

National Security Adviser John Bolton, CIA Director Gina Haspel, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford attending the Thursday meeting, according to the Times.

The report, based on unnamed sources, was not confirmed either by the White House or the Pentagon.

Tensions have escalated between the U.S. and Iran in the last week. Last Sunday, Mr. Bolton announced that the U.S. would send a carrier group to the Mideast following intelligence that Iran planned to strike at American forces in the region.

Following that, Iran delivered a letter to European states still interested in adhering to the 2015 nuclear deal demanding that they fulfill their commitments under the agreement or Iran would return to enriching uranium. The European states rejected the ultimatum.

President Trump announced the same day as the ultimatum (May 8) – exactly one year to the day after he pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal – additional sanctions on Iran, mainly its metals sector, which is the Islamic Republic’s largest source of export revenue after petroleum.

The president appears to want to see a renegotiation of the nuclear deal.

“What I would like to see with Iran, I would like to see them call me,” the president said in the White House on Thursday.

The White House has passed a phone number along to the Swiss to share with the Iranians should they want to call President Trump directly, CNN reported  last week.

A top Iranian general publicly rejected the president’s invitation to call. “There will be no negotiations with America,” General Yadollah Javani said.

Further fueling tensions was Saudi Arabia’s announcement on Monday that two of its tankers were significantly damaged by sabotage in the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia is an opponent of Iran and supports U.S. efforts to curtail the country’s nuclear ambitions.

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