Overview
- Axios reported that U.S. military options presented to President Donald Trump include placing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his son Mojtaba on a potential target list, while no final decision has been made.
- The Pentagon has reinforced regional defenses with additional air-defense batteries, troop movements and the USS Gerald R. Ford entering the Mediterranean, as U.S. officials caution that an attack on Iran would be complex and risky compared with past operations.
- Trump said he is studying a limited strike if talks fail and, according to Axios, could consider allowing tightly constrained “symbolic” uranium enrichment if it forecloses any path to a nuclear weapon.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi disputed Trump’s claims about protester deaths, said Geneva talks did not demand zero enrichment, and stated Iran will deliver a draft proposal in two to three days after previously rejecting a U.S. envelope on missiles.
- Regional tensions widened as Arab and Islamic states issued formal condemnations of U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s remarks about Israel’s biblical “right” to the region, with Iran’s Foreign Ministry also denouncing the comments.