BS BULLETIN:
- President Trump says he is in “deciding mode” over what to do next about Iran.
- Trump described his options as wiping Iran out, letting it “rot economically” or making a deal.
- Iran is now warning that another U.S. attack would expand the war to new territory.
President Donald Trump says “very big things” could be coming soon as he weighs whether to strike Iran again, squeeze the regime economically or try one more time to make a deal.
And Trump put the military option in characteristically Trumpian terms.
Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst said Sunday that he had just spoken with the president about Iran.
“He tells Fox News he’s in a ‘deciding mode’ and that ‘very big things are going to be happening in the not-so-distant future,’” Yingst reported.
Trump described the choices before him as “wiping Iran out, letting them rot economically or making a deal,” according to Yingst.
Then came the line likely to get Tehran’s attention: “My question is, if and when do I blow the entire nation up? They better behave.”
Trump’s warning comes at an increasingly tense moment in the nearly seven-month conflict with Iran.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Sunday that another U.S. attack would produce a broader response.
“If a new aggression occurs, we will certainly change the weaponry and the geography of the war,” IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.
Iran’s military has separately threatened attacks against U.S. bases and interests throughout the region if Washington resumes major strikes.
Tehran claims it has received intelligence indicating the United States is preparing another attack. The Iranian government has not publicly provided evidence supporting that claim.
Meanwhile, U.S. embassies across the Middle East issued security alerts warning American citizens that the region faces the “potential for unforeseen escalation.” The warnings came amid escalating fighting involving Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Trump, however, hasn’t closed the door on diplomacy. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is expected in New York for the United Nations General Assembly this week, and Yingst asked Trump whether he would consider meeting him.
“Probably,” Trump responded.
Iranian officials have traditionally resisted direct negotiations with Washington, instead relying on intermediaries. Tehran says it has communicated conditions for renewed talks through mediators, including an end to the war and U.S. attacks, release of frozen Iranian funds and an end to the naval blockade.
The White House is simultaneously signaling that negotiations remain possible. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said Sunday that the “door is open for Iran to come back to the negotiating table.”
That leaves Trump facing three dramatically different paths as world leaders converge on New York.
A deal. More economic pressure. Or the option the president summarized rather less diplomatically on Fox News.
“When do I blow the entire nation up?”
MY QUICK TAKE:
Somewhere at the United Nations, the seating-chart committee just quietly moved Iran’s table a little farther away from Trump’s.
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- Fox News — Trump in “deciding mode” on Iran as “very big things” approach
- Mediaite — Trump asks “if and when do I blow the entire nation up?”
- CBS News — Iran warns it will expand war if U.S. attacks again
- New York Post — Trump reveals options as Iran decision approaches
- Breitbart — Iran threatens “painful” attacks as Trump warns “very big things” are coming
