US President Donald Trump is set to decide soon whether to launch renewed all-out war against Iran. After the midterm elections, he met the country’s national security advisers on Thursday (5 November) to review the next steps on Iran.
Axios reported that three options are now under consideration: fresh large-scale strikes, keeping up economic pressure, or reaching a deal.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House the same day, Trump said a decision would be made on whether to take further military action to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme completely and to ensure it can never be revived.
“If possible, I don’t want to destroy the rest of the country. But maybe I’ll have to. You’ll find out soon,” he said.
The midterm elections had been seen as an important turning point for the course of the Iran war. Thursday’s meeting was the first time Trump and his top national security advisers sat down on Iran after the vote.
Two US officials told Axios the meeting was held as part of a weekly intelligence briefing.
Meanwhile, as Trump prepares to decide on military action, diplomatic activity around Iran has intensified.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke by phone several times on Thursday with regional mediators from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Egypt.
Qatari mediators are continuing talks with Iran and the White House on a draft proposal. It aims to build mutual trust for a broader agreement through a series of steps over two days.
Under the proposal, on the first day the United States would lift its naval blockade of Iran and release some of the country’s frozen funds. In return, Iran would formally invite the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect nuclear facilities damaged in the bombing.
Regional sources said the steps would be based on an agreement reached in Cairo a year ago.
On the second day the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened. Nuclear talks on Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium would then resume.
Separately, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Thursday.
Rezaei is playing an important role in the indirect talks with the United States. After the meeting he said he had delivered a message from Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei to Putin, and that Putin had said he was ready to help end the war.
“We told Putin that we have seven conditions for the United States on diplomacy. Until the Americans meet these conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will not open and there will be no talks,” Rezaei said.
Meanwhile, US Central Command (CENTCOM) is finalising preparations to resume major military operations in Iran. But a US official said it had not yet received any new orders from Washington.
The arrival of a third US aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East could be a possible sign of whether the United States is planning fresh strikes.
The US official said the USS Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group would stay in Singapore for a few days from Friday, but would not reach CENTCOM’s area of responsibility before mid-November.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report