President Biden was presented with options for a potential US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the scenario that Tehran was deemed by the intelligence community as speeding toward a bomb.
Per a Thursday Axios report citing several insider sources, the Biden admin discussions were based on “if the Iranians move towards a nuclear weapon before Jan. 20″ and came in “a meeting several weeks ago that remained secret until now.”
No final decision was made, the report noted, and was not necessarily prompted by fresh or specific intelligence of a new threat, but was part of “prudent scenario planning” related to if the Islamic Republic reaches Uranium enrichment to 90% purity before Jan. 20.
Western officials have feared that due to fast-moving events in the region, most notably Hezbollah’s leadership being decimated and the collapse of the Assad government, the Iranians could be desperate enough to pursue nuclear weapons in order to restore the security balance in the region, given Israel has clearly come out on top.
Interestingly, months ago when Israel and Iran conducted tit-for-tat direct strikes on each other, President Biden made it clear that the US would not back Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The internal Biden White House ‘scenario planning’ discussions were said to have taken place about a month ago. One source tried to caution that “there are currently no active discussions inside the White House about possible military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities,” Axios noted.
There is an international consensus that Iran has increased its Uranium enrichment to 60%, putting it within easy striking distance of being able to develop a bomb if it wanted to.
Axios has also pointed out that “Even if Iran decided to build a bomb, it would need to develop a nuclear explosive device or warhead. Israeli intelligence believes that would take at least a year.”
All of these newly revealed executive branch discussions over whether to launch a preemptive attack on Iranian nuclear sites are taking place completely outside of Congressional debate or approval. […]
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