Trump’s Moment of Reckoning With Iran

Even as aides continually warn him to focus on domestic economic policy, President Donald Trump has pushed the U.S. further and further to the brink of war with Iran, despite ever-depreciating woes of GOP midterm failure (which will almost certainly be exacerbated by all-out conflict).

Over the past 2 months, Trump has ordered a huge buildup of forces in the Middle East and repeatedly pushed for a potential multi-week air attack on Iran. Yet, despite the enthusiasm, he has not conclusively laid out in full detail to the American public a reason as to why he might be leading the U.S. into its most aggressive action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution, overthrowing the Western-backed monarch Shah Mohammad Pahlavi and instituting the theocratic Ayatollah Khomeini.

A senior White House official said that despite Trump’s rhetoric, there was still no genuine “unified support” in the administration to go ahead with any attack. Trump's aides are also mindful of the need to avoid sending a "distracted message" to undecided voters more concerned about the economy, the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

It is abundantly clear that the concurrent flashpoint has been the controversy surrounding Iran’s nuclear weapons program, specifically its continued use of nearly 60% enriched Uranium. However, Iran has, at the same time, publicly offered a path to denuclearization, under the condition of a hypothetical American lifting of sanctions. For now, Trump has ardently refused, instead ever lengthening his buildup of presence in their backyard.

The U.S. strikes last summer targeted Iran’s nuclear enrichment infrastructure, with primary targets at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium (fuel that can be fashioned into a bomb) is likely still buried underneath the Isfahan facility, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Military planners are likely to have follow-up targets in the deck, or areas to re-strike should Trump order an operation.

Short of a miracle diplomatic breakthrough in the short term, what happens next remains in the hands of Trump and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, both of whom are stubbornly refusing to build an off-ramp.

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• Matt Spetalnick, Reuters

• Staff, Al Jazeera

• Associated Press, CNN

• Anna Flaherty, ABC News