President Trump asked top military authorities and other senior advisers about attacking an Iranian nuclear complex a week ago, yet ruled against a military strike, two reports said Monday.
Trump asked counsels, including Vice President Mike Pence and General Mark Milley, administrator of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, what choices he had for attacking the nation’s main nuclear facility in an Oval Office meeting last Thursday, the New York Times announced.
Various advisers, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, deterred the president from making the exceptional move, which they accepted could prompt a more extensive military clash in the district, as indicated by the report.
Reuters confirmed the Times’ account of the meeting, citing an unnamed US official.
“He asked for options. They gave him the scenarios and he ultimately decided not to go forward,” the source told the news outlet.
The Times reported that a military strike in Iran by the US “would almost certainly” target Natanz, a nuclear facility in the country where uranium stockpiles have risen to more than 12 times those allowable by the nuclear deal that Trump pulled out of in 2018.
While officials believe they talked Trump out of a US strike in the country, the president may be considering targeting other Iranian allies, including militias in Iraq, the Times reported.
