Trump considered lame-duck strike on Iran nuclear site after learning stockpile had grown
U.S. President Donald Trump considered striking Iran’s nuclear capabilities in his last weeks in office, but senior advisers said he shouldn’t do it.
According to a report from the New York Times, U.S. officials told Trump that Iran’s nuclear material stockpile had grown, citing a United Nations watchdog group.
The stockpile had gotten 12 times higher than what it was supposed to be under the Iran Nuclear Deal, from which Trump withdrew in 2018.
Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and the acting defense secretary and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Trump that strike would lead to a larger conflict.
According to the report, administration officials with knowledge of the meeting said that once Trump had been dissuaded, the advisers believed that he would not order a missile strike within Iranian territory.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO