US President Donald Trump is pressing aides for “decisive” military options against Iran after stepping back from potential strikes last week, according to a report on Tuesday.
Trump’s discussions come as the US deploys additional forces to the Middle East, including an aircraft carrier that was spotted by maritime-traffic trackers sailing west from the South China Sea toward the Gulf, and F-15E fighter jets that landed in Jordan on Sunday, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The report, citing anonymous US officials, said Trump has repeatedly used the term “decisive” in internal discussions about what he would want any potential US action against Iran to achieve.
That language has prompted officials at the White House and the Pentagon to prepare a range of military scenarios for the president, including options that could seek to remove Iran’s leadership.
The officials were quoted as saying that Trump has not authorised strikes and that his final decision remains uncertain, but the ongoing discussions indicate he has not ruled out taking action against Tehran over the killing of protesters.
Trump warns Iran that it would be 'blown up' if he’s assassinated
Meanwhile, Trump warned Iran on Tuesday that his country would respond forcefully if Tehran acts on alleged assassination threats against him.
“They shouldn’t be doing it, but I’ve left notification. Anything ever happens, we’re going to blow the whole — the whole country is going to get blown up,” he said in an interview with NewsNation, responding to a question about continued threats from Iran’s leadership.
Trump said former President Joe Biden “should have said something” when similar statements were first made, arguing that past leaders failed to respond forcefully.
“If they were making that threat to somebody even, not even a president, but somebody like they did with me, I would absolutely hit them so hard,” he said.
“I have very firm instructions — anything happens, they’re going to wipe them off the face of this earth,” Trump added.
Iran has been rocked by nationwide protests since late December over economic hardship and the sharp depreciation of the rial, with demonstrations spreading from Tehran to several cities.
According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) on Monday, at least 4,029 people have been killed, more than 26,000 arrested and over 5,800 injured during the unrest.
Iranian officials have accused the US and Israel of backing what they describe as “armed rioters.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened to "hit hard" if protesters were killed but later commended Tehran for cancelling hundreds of scheduled executions.
