Donald Trump weighs limited strike on Iran as U.S. forces deploy and nuclear talks hang in the balance

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Trump is leaning toward a more limited military strike to pressure Iran to accept U.S. demands, including curbing its nuclear program, reducing its missile arsenal and halting funding for regional armed proxies. Trump said Thursday when asked about the timing of a decision, “You’ll be finding out over the next probably 10 days.”

Speaking at the first Board of Peace meeting, Trump said negotiations were going well but stressed that Tehran must reach a “meaningful” agreement. “Otherwise, bad things happen,” he said.

Michael Makovsky, president and chief executive of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said of a potential strike, “I think this is very likely.” He added, “I’ve been talking to very, very senior officials; I get a sense that that’s where they’re heading.”

Makovsky said the scale of U.S. deployments signaled more than a symbolic action. “I don’t think you’re bringing all those assets to the region, just for a Midnight Hammer-type of event. You’re talking about, more likely, a longer campaign. I think Trump really means it.”

A senior regional official cautioned that limited strikes could derail diplomacy. “I think any strikes will make the Iranians walk away from the talks, but how it evolved after that, I don’t know, it’s anybody’s guess,” the official told The Hill.

Satellite images cited by Reuters show Iran constructed a concrete shield over a new facility at a sensitive military site bombed by Israel in 2024. Ahead of talks with Washington, Tehran conducted live-fire drills in the Strait of Hormuz and held annual war games with Russia on Thursday, while Israeli leaders kept forces on heightened alert and rescheduled a security Cabinet meeting to Sunday, according to The New York Times.

Another strike would follow Operation Midnight Hammer, during which the U.S. bombed three of Iran’s nuclear sites eight months ago, and could trigger missile retaliation against U.S. and Israeli forces. Jamal Abdi, executive director of the National Iranian American Council, said, “Trump is trying to leverage the military threat to get concessions from Iran and so the administration has every incentive to raise the threat publicly.”

Abdi added, “That doesn’t mean a strike isn’t imminent, but there are no good military options to advance U.S. or Israeli goals or support protesters, especially not quick and cheap options.” He also said, “That doesn’t likely exist for Iran,” referring to the type of limited, symbolic action the administration has previously undertaken.

It remains unclear whether Iran is prepared to go beyond commitments made under the Obama-era nuclear deal, which Trump withdrew from in 2018. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva for three hours on Tuesday without reaching an agreement, and Vice President Vance later told Fox News the talks “went well” in some aspects, but “in other ways it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.”

Senior U.S. national security advisers met Wednesday in the Situation Room to discuss Iran, and Tehran is expected to submit a written proposal in the coming days, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke to NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network. The official said advisers were told to expect all U.S. military forces deployed to the region to be in place by mid-March as Washington prepares for a possible weeks-long campaign, potentially alongside Israel, that would exceed the scale of last June’s 12-day war.

Source: The Hill.