Trump Says Decision on Resuming Iran Strikes Is Coming Soon After Meeting Security Advisers

President Donald Trump said Thursday he will soon decide whether to resume military strikes on Iran, after meeting with his national security advisers for the first time since the midterm elections.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said the administration had reached the point of choosing among three paths: launching new strikes, keeping up economic pressure on Tehran, or reaching a deal that includes concessions from Iran. “Now we will make a decision,” he said. “Do we want to go further” with strikes to make sure Iran’s nuclear program is dead and “it will never happen again?”

“I would rather not destroy the rest of the country if possible, but maybe I will have to. You’ll know soon enough,” he added.

According to Axios, which cited two U.S. officials, Thursday’s talks took place during the president’s weekly intelligence briefing. The report said the midterm elections were seen as an inflection point for the choice, after Democrats took control of Congress.

Military preparations continue

U.S. Central Command is completing preparations for a possible resumption of large combat operations in Iran, a U.S. official told Axios, though it has not received a new order from Washington.

One sign of timing could be the arrival of a third U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East. The USS Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group will spend a few days in Singapore starting Friday for a port call, a U.S. official said, and will not reach Central Command’s area before mid-November.

Diplomacy runs in parallel

Even as the military prepares, diplomacy continued on Thursday. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held phone calls with mediators from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Egypt, according to Axios.

Qatari mediators kept working with both sides on a draft plan for a series of steps over two days meant to build trust toward a wider deal, regional sources told Axios. On the first day, the United States would lift its naval blockade and release some of Iran’s frozen funds, while Iran would invite inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit bombed nuclear sites under an agreement reached in Cairo a year ago. On the second day, the Strait of Hormuz would reopen and nuclear talks would resume, with a focus on Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

Iran’s position stayed firm. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Thursday and said he carried a message from Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. Rezaei said Putin told him he was ready to try to help end the war. He also said Iran had set seven conditions for the United States and that until they are met, the Strait of Hormuz will stay shut and there will be no talks.

Reporting based on coverage by Axios.