Trump considered lame-duck strike on Iran nuclear site after learning stockpile had grown

Demonstrators urge Sen. Ben Cardin to support Iran nuclear deal. Image by Getty Images

By Helen Chernikoff November 17, 2020

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.

Helen Chernikoff is the Forward’s News Editor. She came to the Forward from The Jewish Week, where she served as the first web director and created both a blog dedicated to disability issues and a food and wine website. Before that, she covered the housing, lodging and logistics industries for Reuters, where she could sit at her desk and watch her stories move the stock market. Helen has a Master’s of Public Administration from Columbia University and a BA in History and French from Amherst College. She is also a rabbinical school dropout. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at @thesimplechild.

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