They had thus far been unsuccessful in the face of Israel's historic opposition to selling such aircraft to other Middle Eastern countries in a bid to maintain its technological superiority. He presented the deal as a contribution to efforts against their common adversary, Iran.Ību Dhabi had long sought to acquire these F-35 fighters, which are difficult to detect by radar and capable of surgical strikes. On November 10, Pompeo formally informed Congress that the US planned to sell $23 billion worth of reaper drones, F35 stealth fighters, air-to-air missiles and other munitions to the United Arab Emirates.
Milley, Trump could also consider striking Iranian assets or those of its allies, including militias in Iraq, the New York Times reported, citing senior administration officials.īehind the scenes, Donald Trump took action in another way, by authorising the sale of advanced weapons to Tehran's regional enemies. Worries, expressed privately, are emerging within the Defence Department "as to whether the president could launch operations, open or covert, against Iran or other adversaries at the end of his term," the New York Times reported.ĭeterred from launching a missile attack on Iran by Pompeo and Gen. This episode says a lot about the American President's state of mind in terms of leaving office: does he want to leave his successor a poisoned chalice? Some national security officials are worried, especially since Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other senior Pentagon officials last week, replacing them with his cronies and less likely to question his impulsive orders.
While the quantity is worrisome, it is far less than the amount of nuclear fuel Iran had amassed before former US President Barack Obama reached the July 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, the New York Times reported. It was at this facility that the International Atomic Energy Agency reported on November 11 – the day before Trump's meeting – that Iran's stockpile of uranium was now 12 times larger than what had been authorised by the nuclear agreement that Washington withdrew from in 2018. Milley, dissuaded him from doing so, warning of the risk of triggering a broader regional conflict.Īccording to the American newspaper of record, Trump wanted to target the nuclear site of Natanz, located in central Iran. These senior officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark A. On November 12, just days after his electoral defeat, Trump gathered his military advisers in the Oval Office to look into the possibility of a pre-emptive strike against Iran, the New York Times reported. But the Trump administration seems to have other plans, hardening its tone a few weeks before it is scheduled to leave the White House in January 2021.įar from having put the brakes on the Trump administration's "full-court press" approach to Tehran, Joe Biden's victory in the November 3 election has pushed the outgoing president to play his final trump cards in Iran. This time, the targets of the November 18 American sanctions are the Iranian Minister of Intelligence and the Mostazafan Foundation of Islamic Revolution, which manages the money derived from the confiscated assets of the former royal family.Ī few hours before the new sanctions were imposed, Tehran had declared itself willing to return to "automatically" respecting its nuclear commitments if the future administration of Joe Biden lifted sanctions. New US sanctions have been imposed on Iran.
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