According to the Wall Street Journal on June 30th, American officials involved in the discussion revealed that Trump has recently considered whether to resume a full-scale war with Iran. Over the past few days, he has discussed additional strikes with Defense Secretary Hagel and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Casey. However, he has decided to maintain the diplomatic negotiation path for now.
These discussions mainly focus on whether the United States should abandon negotiations and launch a full-scale attack against Iran. Some officials describe this option as “completing the task.” Although no final decision has been made, Trump has told his assistants that he believes a new round of full-scale attacks could undermine diplomatic efforts and damage the chances of the United States ultimately dismantling Iran’s nuclear program.
These officials said that Trump also told his assistants that he could accept the fact that negotiations with Tehran would miss the deadline of August 18th. This decision provided more time for negotiations. At the same time, Trump expressed his satisfaction with the one-time strike against Iran in cases where the ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ was violated.
It is not uncommon for the Pentagon to give briefings to the president during military conflicts. Trump also frequently holds formal or informal meetings regarding issues related to Iran. However, recent discussions indicate that he is seeking ways to break the deadlock with Tehran, and he has not ruled out the possibility of restarting the war. Some officials acknowledge that resuming conflict would essentially be tantamount to admitting failure of the widely publicized US-Iran agreement.
In public, Trump said that negotiations are progressing, and that he still has the option of military action if the negotiations fail. “They are agreeing to everything I want, and they have to do so,” he said to reporters last week. “Otherwise, we will go back to doing what we must do.”
A White House official said that Trump has always preferred diplomatic approaches, and noted that Iranians should reach a good agreement with the United States in a wise manner. Reporters for Hagersees and Kaine declined to comment on this article.
