PRESIDENT Donald Trump said late on Thursday he will soon decide whether to widen the war on Iran, warning the US might have to “destroy the rest of the country,” Axios reported. Speaking in the Oval Office after meeting his national security team, Trump said the Administration would make a decision on whether to “go further” and ensure Iran’s nuclear program can never be revived.
These are his first comments after Democrats’ resounding election victory in midterms, which has been largely attributed to ill-conceived Iran war and its inflationary impact. For weeks, Trump has threatened to return to a full-scale bombardment of Iran once the US elections were in the rearview mirror if Tehran did not come to a settlement under terms acceptable to him. There have also been talks about a nuclear attack on the pretext to deprive Iran of the ability to develop a nuclear device. However, there were expectations that in the post-election period sanity might prevail as voters clearly gave their verdict against the war but the remarks made by Trump convey an impression he might ignore the popular opinion once again in deciding the future course of action on the Iran issue. A former senior analyst of the CIA (Brian Haggerty) has rightly pointed out “There’s reason to suspect that Trump may feel less restrained given that the political damage is done”. However, he asserted that the strategic calculus or the strategic logic of what you hope to achieve through an escalation of strikes against Iran is no different today than it was a week ago or a month ago. His observations are close to ground reality but President Trump has remained unpredictable all along and no one can say with certainty what he intends to do in the coming days. Reports suggest Trump is weighing three primary strategic paths regarding Iran following the midterm elections, backed by varying pieces of advice from his Administration and regional allies: pursue a negotiated settlement (the course advised by Vice President JD Vance and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff), re-launch or expand military strikes as advocated by Israel and its US lobbies or maintain the ‘no war, no deal’ status quo as advocated by Secretary of State, Treasury Secretary and CIA Director. A negotiated settlement has the potential to help rebuild the dented image of the superpower whereas resumption of strikes could complicate such prospects further.
