Trump asked for options to attack Iran’s nuke sites after election loss: Report

With two months left in office, President Donald Trump has asked for options on attacking Iran’s main nuclear site, but ultimately decided against taking the dramatic step, a U.S. official said on Monday.

The request was made during an Oval Office meeting on Thursday in presence of top national security aides, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, new acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the official said.

The 74-year-old, who has refused to concede and is challenging the results of the November 3 presidential election, is to hand over power to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden on January 20.

The official confirmed the account of the meeting in The New York Times, which reported the advisers persuaded Trump not to go ahead with a strike because of the risk of a broader conflict.

“He asked for options. They gave him the scenarios and he ultimately decided not to go forward,” the official said.

The White House declined comment.

Trump has adopted an aggressive policy against Iran during his tenure. During the presidency period, he withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by his Democratic predecessor in 2018 and imposed economic sanctions against a wide variety of Iranian targets.

Trump’s request for options came a day after a U.N. watchdog report showed Iran had finished moving a first cascade of advanced centrifuges from an above-ground plant at its main uranium enrichment site to an underground one, in a fresh breach of its 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.

Iran’s 2.4 tonne stock of low-enriched uranium is now far above the deal’s 202.8 kg limit. It produced 337.5 kg in the quarter, less than the more than 500 kg recorded in the previous two quarters by the International Atomic Energy Agency.