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Donald Trump's decision on airstrikes against Iran will be made based on advice from Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff
Donald Trump's decision to order airstrikes against Iran will depend in part on the judgment of his special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who will have to determine whether or not Tehran is dragging its feet on reaching an agreement to give up its ability to produce nuclear weapons, according to well-informed sources.
The president has not yet made a final decision on any potential strike, as the administration prepares to receive a final proposal from Iran this week before the final round of negotiations in Geneva. Those talks will be led by Witkoff and Kushner, whose assessment will influence Trump's final decision. If no deal is reached, the US president has told advisers that he is considering limited strikes to pressure Iran and, if that fails, a much broader strike to impose regime change.
A U.S. official said Monday that Witkoff was part of the team advising Trump on how to deal with Iran and had participated in all meetings related to the issue. Trump has received several briefings on military options, including the most recent one on Wednesday at the White House Crisis Management Center, according to the sources. He has also sought the opinions of a wide range of West Wing officials in recent weeks on how to deal with Iran.
Other key advisers include Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Vance presented both sides of the argument for airstrikes. But he briefed Caine on the potential risks, largely because he was much less certain about the likelihood of success of an attack on Iran than he had been about the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Caine's concern centers on the low stockpiles of anti-missile systems, the sources said. After Trump's bombing of Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities last year, the U.S. launched 30 Patriot missiles to intercept Iranian counterattacks, in the largest single use of the missiles in U.S. history.
Those counterattacks were limited in scope. But this time, Iran has vowed to respond as harshly as possible to any US attack, and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned last week that it has the capability to sink a US warship.
Caine has expressed his concerns more forcefully within the Pentagon than when he briefed Trump, in what officials have privately speculated was an effort to avoid appearing to support a particular course of action, according to well-informed sources.
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Caine is "a highly respected professional whose job is to provide impartial information to the Commander-in-Chief, which he does perfectly," and that he does not express his personal views.
However, there is uncertainty within the administration whether the airstrikes would be enough to force Iran to reach a deal or even bring about the ouster of Khamenei and his circle of religious leaders.
To that end, administration officials have also been considering possible solutions to avoid a military confrontation. Among the ideas being discussed is allowing Iran to maintain a limited nuclear enrichment capacity, strictly for medical research, treatment or other civilian energy purposes.
Rubio is also expected to travel to Israel to brief Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in meetings scheduled for Feb. 28, on the outcome of the negotiations, two people familiar with the matter said. However, ahead of what could be the final negotiations, there were signs that positions were hardening.
Witkoff stated on Fox News on Sunday that Trump's instruction was to ensure that Iran maintained zero nuclear enrichment capacity, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated on CBS's Face the Nation that Tehran is not willing to give up enrichment.
As they prepare for the possibility that Trump will approve military action, the US has amassed the largest air force in the Middle East since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The USS Gerald Ford, the US Navy's most advanced aircraft carrier, is expected to arrive within days.
The aircraft carrier, which was in southern Italy on Sunday en route to Israel, would be the second in the region. Its arrival would add to dozens of advanced F-35 and F-22 fighter jets, as well as bombers and aerial refueling aircraft already deployed.
This buildup would give Trump the ability to launch an expanded air campaign against Iran, rather than a limited strike like last summer's operation, when B-2 bombers flew from the US to strike a small number of enrichment facilities at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz. /Adapted from The Guardian /
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