From the New York Times
The president was dissuaded from moving ahead with a strike by advisers who warned that it could escalate into a broader conflict in his last weeks in office.
By Eric Schmitt, Maggie Haberman, David E. Sanger, Helene Cooper and Lara Jakes
Nov. 16, 2020
WASHINGTON — President Trump asked senior advisers in an Oval Office meeting on Thursday whether he had options to take action against Iran’s main nuclear site in the coming weeks. The meeting occurred a day after international inspectors reported a significant increase in the country’s stockpile of nuclear material, four current and former U.S. officials said on Monday.
A range of senior advisers dissuaded the president from moving ahead with a military strike. The advisers — including Vice President Mike Pence; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Christopher C. Miller, the acting defense secretary; and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — warned that a strike against Iran’s facilities could easily escalate into a broader conflict in the last weeks of Mr. Trump’s presidency.
Any strike — whether by missile or cyber — would almost certainly be focused on Natanz, where the International Atomic Energy Agency reported on Wednesday that Iran’s uranium stockpile was now 12 times larger than permitted under the nuclear accord that Mr. Trump abandoned in 2018. The agency also noted that Iran had not allowed it access to another suspected site where there was evidence of past nuclear activity.
Mr. Trump asked his top national security aides what options were available and how to respond, officials said.
After Mr. Pompeo and General Milley described the potential risks of military escalation, officials left the meeting believing a missile attack inside Iran was off the table, according to administration officials with knowledge of the meeting.
Mr. Trump might still be looking at ways to strike Iranian assets and allies, including militias in Iraq, officials said. A smaller group of national security aides had met late Wednesday to discuss Iran, the day before the meeting with the president.
So Mr Trump may be still exploring ways to start a war with Iran. A war that would run the risk of embroiling the whole region in conflict. And as George W. Bush taught the nation so painfully, starting wars comes with lots of unintended consequences.
Now we know why Trump fired his Secretary of Defense, and decapitated the leadership at the Pentagon. Now erecting walls around the White House looks like preparations for massive anti-war protests.
Matt Duss is a foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Time for Republican cowards like Mike Pence, Mark Meadows, and Mitch McConnell to stop putting Mr. Trump’s delicate feelings ahead of our national interests, and invoke the 25th Amendment. Before Mr Trump does lasting damage to our national security, and the public’s trust in our Constitutional Republic to provide an orderly transfer of power.