US President Donald Trump met with senior advisers and cabinet members on Friday to decide whether to intensify the military campaign against Iran, The New York Times reported. Four people familiar with the matter said the meeting was intended to consider the future direction of US policy following the collapse of the ceasefire and the failed attempt to bring Washington and Tehran back to negotiations over a nuclear disarmament agreement.
In addition, Bloomberg reported that US sources said Trump was "extremely frustrated" and wanted to exact a heavier price from Iran.
In an interview with Axios on Thursday, Trump addressed the possibility of further escalation. "I'm considering a massive attack, bigger than anything before," he said. "I'm close to making a decision. We are all set for it." Trump also suggested that Israel would probably not participate in a new military operation. He said such a move could have "consequences" for Israel, apparently because of the possibility of an Iranian response.
Meanwhile, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he was expected to leave for Washington on Monday and meet Trump at the White House on Tuesday.
So far, Trump's threats to intensify the bombing campaign do not appear to have deterred Iran from continuing its attacks. The report also said that some members of Iran's current leadership had adopted a more hard-line position than senior officials killed earlier this year in joint US-Israeli operations.
Trump at the White House: "They're not ready yet"
Speaking earlier at an Oval Office event on the development of the US nuclear energy industry, Trump said: "We're talking to Iran right now. They want a deal, but they're not ready yet." Addressing tensions with Iran, Trump said: "There is a military option, which is to take out everything they have, and there is a smarter strategy, which is to make a deal. They want one, but they're not ready yet.
"We can keep doing what we're doing and dismantle them piece by piece. We can do it faster, or we can negotiate, as we're doing now. We're talking to them at this very moment. They are prepared to do things they were never prepared to do before." Trump added: "Maybe they'll surrender, or simply give up, or run into caves and hide."
The president also addressed the civilian nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia. "I said that to do this, to make the deal, they have to join the Abraham Accords," he said, referring to the US-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab states. "It's time for them to do it.
"Previously, Saudi Arabia and others didn't want to do it because of the Iran problem. That problem is disappearing more and more every day. This is important for the future of the Middle East. The Abraham Accords have been very successful for the countries that joined them. At some point, they will join and develop their civilian nuclear energy program."
Mojtaba Khamenei more interested than his father in nuclear weapons
US intelligence agencies believe Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, is far more interested than his father and predecessor in advancing the development of nuclear weapons, according to people familiar with US intelligence assessments.
Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the beginning of the war in an Israeli strike carried out with US intelligence assistance, had opposed the development of nuclear weapons for years. US officials nevertheless assessed that Iran sought to preserve the capability to produce a nuclear bomb if necessary.
According to the sources, US officials believed for years that Ali Khamenei's reservations about developing nuclear weapons were genuine, even though Iran continued developing capabilities that could support such a program in the future.
Israeli intelligence also assesses that at least part of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium was transferred to the underground facility at Pickaxe Mountain, CNN reported, citing an Israeli source familiar with the matter. In the background, Trump threatened several days ago that the US would attack the Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site "very soon."
