Two months from the end of his mandate, Donald Trump has polled senior US officials on the possibility of attacking an Iranian nuclear site, said Monday, November 16. New York Times.
According to the American daily, the outgoing president asked Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chief of Staff Mark Milley, “If he had options to act against” this site – probably that of Natanz, in central Iran – ” in the next weeks “, at a meeting Thursday in the Oval office. These senior officials “Dissuaded the president from going ahead with a military strike”, given the risk that it quickly escalates into a larger conflict, the daily said.
Mr Trump asked the question after an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report said Tehran continues to accumulate uranium. According to this document, the amount of low enriched uranium now exceeds 12 times the allowable limit.
“Wall of sanctions”
Iran is the bête noire of Donald Trump, who slammed the door in 2018 of the international agreement signed three years earlier to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons, deeming it insufficient. He also reinstated, then toughened, sanctions against Tehran. The Europeans are trying to save this agreement, at least until Joe Biden, winner of the US presidential election on November 3, takes office. A victory that Donald Trump has still not recognized.
The Trump administration has also pledged to further strengthen punitive measures against Tehran before Mr. Trump is due to return to power in January. A strategy seen by some observers as the desire to build such a “Wall of sanctions” that it would be difficult for Joe Biden to go back.
