In a top-level meeting with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan about a month ago, President Biden was presented with a range of strike options if Iran moved to develop nuclear weapons, Axios reported on Friday.
The White House did not immediately respond to FOX News Digital's questions about attack options, but According to the report, Biden has not signed on to any plan to attack Iran's nuclear program.
Mr. Biden has vowed not to let Iran develop nuclear weapons on his watch, but given that Iran is reportedly already stockpiling nuclear fuel, there is no way the Biden administration would allow Iran to respond with a direct strike. It remains unclear whether any action will have to be taken. It plans to develop weapons-grade uranium and strengthen its weaponization capabilities.
On September 26, 2024, a large banner depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei was installed next to a ballistic missile in Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran, alongside an exhibition commemorating the 44th anniversary of the start of the Iran-Iraq War. Ru. . (Photo credit: Hossein Beris / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP via Getty Images)
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The president was reportedly presented with a series of scenarios and response options during the meeting, but Biden had not made a final decision on the information he was given, a source told the outlet.
Another source was quoted as saying that there are currently no active discussions about a military attack on Iran's military plans.
Last year, as tensions between the two countries reached a boiling point during the conflict between Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which were backed by Iran, Biden repeatedly warned Israel not to attack Iran's nuclear program. .
However, some of the president's closest aides say the United States has little to offer given Iran's weakened position given its efforts to accelerate Iran's nuclear program and the significantly weakened position of Iranian proxies. He reportedly claimed there was a “need” and “opportunity” to attack his nuclear ambitions.
Sources told Axios that Sullivan was not advising the president to take action either way, but merely presenting a scenario.
U.S. President Joe Biden talks with Jake Sullivan, chief of staff, about national security issues during a roundtable with Jewish community leaders in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, on October 11, 2023. do. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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The report also notes that the president's aides and other presidential aides believe that Iran's degraded air defense and missile capabilities and weakened proxy forces could increase the likelihood of a successful attack and reduce the likelihood of Iranian retaliation. He pointed out that he thought it was possible.
Biden will reportedly focus on issues of urgency and whether Iran has taken any concrete steps to justify military strikes that could spark a conflict in the weeks before the new administration takes office. , but it remains unclear what those measures will include.
“If you look at the public statements from Iranian officials that have changed in recent months in the wake of these strategic blows, it begs the question whether at some point we will have to change our doctrine. “Publicizing the facts publicly is something that must be considered very carefully,” Professor Sullivan said in a lecture in New York a week before Christmas.
Holding flowers, he stands in front of a huge banner depicting the portrait of Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah during a protest rally condemning the Israeli airstrike on Hezbollah headquarters on the outskirts of Beirut and the killing of Hassan Nasrallah and Hezbollah. Iranian protesters. General Abbas Nilforoushan, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), September 30, 2024, in Tehran, Iran. (Morteza Nicobazul/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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He also pointed to the damage Iran has suffered this year and argued that rather than deterring Iran, it could encourage it to develop nuclear weapons.
“That creates very dangerous options for our adversaries, and that's something we have to remain very vigilant about moving forward,” Sullivan said.
