Trump briefed on military options against Iran, but sticks to diplomatic negotiations for now: report

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has held a series of meetings with senior national security officials to review US policy towards Iran, including whether Washington should continue negotiations with Tehran or resume broader military strikes, according to the Wall Street Journal. Trump has been briefed on options for a possible return to broader military confrontation with Iran but has, for now, chosen to continue diplomatic negotiations, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal citing US officials familiar with internal deliberations. The Journal said the discussions involved Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, as officials assessed whether the United States should abandon talks with Tehran and resume full-scale military strikes. Some officials involved in the deliberations reportedly described the harder option internally as “finishing the job”. While the deliberations reflect renewed debate within the administration over escalation, the report said Trump has not made a final decision and has instead leaned toward maintaining the diplomatic track, arguing that large-scale military action could disrupt fragile negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme. According to the WSJ, the president has also told advisers he is comfortable allowing nuclear negotiations with Tehran to extend beyond an August 18 deadline, effectively giving diplomacy additional time to produce results. Officials cited in the report said this flexibility reflects an effort to avoid locking Washington into a rigid timetable while talks remain in progress. At the same time, Trump is said to remain open to limited retaliatory measures, including “one-off” strikes in response to Iranian violations of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that previously helped structure a fragile ceasefire arrangement. Such calibrated responses, officials suggested, are seen within parts of the administration as a way to apply pressure without escalating into a wider w