CNN: Donald Trump is planning strikes on Iran again — this time because of the lack of progress in nuclear talks

The US President Donald Trump is again planning large-scale strikes on Iran after talks between Washington and Tehran on curbing the countryʼs nuclear program and ballistic missile production failed.

CNN reports this, citing sources.

Media sources reported that Trump is considering the following options: airstrikes on Iranian leaders and security officials, attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities and government institutions.

Trump has not yet made a final decision, but believes his military capabilities have expanded since the beginning of this month, with the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group in the region. The group entered the Indian Ocean on January 26 and continues to move closer to Iran, where it could support any potential operations against that country.

Meanwhile, the US military is moving additional Patriot batteries to the Middle East and is also planning to move THAAD systems to protect its troops from a possible Iranian response.

There, the US Air Force will conduct multi-day exercises to practice combat missions in difficult conditions with partners, said General Derek France, commander of US Central Command.

The United States and Iran have been exchanging messages about a possible meeting to avert a strike that Trump has threatened in response to the killings of protesters in the country. The United States demanded that Iran stop enriching uranium, limit its ballistic missile program, and stop supporting regional puppets. Iran refused to limit the range of its missiles, agreeing to discuss only its nuclear program. As a result, the talks reached an impasse.

Nuclear deal with Iran

The Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2015 by the US, UK, Russia, France, China, Germany and the EU. They agreed that the Iranian authorities would give up their nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

In 2018, Donald Trump, during his first term as president, withdrew the US from the deal and launched a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran. Iran then resumed uranium production. Under Joe Biden’s presidency, Iran’s nuclear program, as Axios noted, “has advanced significantly”.

The Biden administration has been conducting indirect talks with Iran to revive the Iran nuclear deal, but those efforts collapsed in late 2022. After his re-election to a second term, Trump has resumed his “maximum pressure” campaign. In March, Axios reported that the US president had given Iran two months to reach a new nuclear deal.

In June, the United States attacked three Iranian nuclear facilities in the cities of Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. American B-2 stealth bombers dropped six GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs on Iranʼs Fordow nuclear facility, two GBU-57 bombs on the Natanz nuclear facility, and a US Navy submarine launched a salvo of 30 Tomahawk missiles, targeting the Natanz facility and another in Isfahan. Details of the operation can be found here.

Trump claimed that all three sites “were completely and irreversibly destroyed”. However, The New York Times reported that the attack only set back Iran’s nuclear program for a few months.

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