Trump ‘dissuaded’ from launching missile attack on Iran’s nuclear site

US President Donald Trump was reportedly talked out of launching a missile strike on Iran’s main nuclear site last week by advisers who warned it could trigger a war, the New York Times reported.

According to the article Trump is however still “mulling options to punish Tehran” for increasing its stockpile of nuclear weapons.

A meeting between Trump and his senior advisers took place last week and among those present were Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Current and former US officials told the New York Times the meeting took place a day after international inspectors informed UN members that Iran had significantly increased its stockpile of nuclear material.

A separate source confirmed the New York Times’ account of the meeting to Reuters, saying: “[Trump] asked for options. They gave him the scenarios and he ultimately decided not to go forward.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency, a watchdog for the UN, reported in a confidential document last Wednesday that Iran’s uranium stockpile is now 12 times larger than the limit set under the nuclear accord Trump pulled out of in 2018.

The agency said that as of November 2 Iran had a stockpile of 2,442.9 kilograms (5,385.7 pounds) of low-enriched uranium, up from 2,105.4 kilograms (4,641.6 pounds) reported on August 25.

The nuclear deal signed in 2015 with the US, Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), allows Iran only to keep a stockpile of 202.8 kilograms (447 pounds).

The IAEA reported that Iran has also been continuing to enrich uranium to a purity of up to 4.5 percent, higher than the 3.67 percent allowed under the deal.

Natanz, also called the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant, is located about 200 miles south of Tehran and most of the complex is underground. It is subject to monitoring by IAEA under the nuclear accord.

In its latest report the IAEA also said that Iran had barred its inspectors from accessing another site where there was evidence of past nuclear activity.

The officials who spoke to the New York Times said Trump reacted to the IAEA report by asking his aides about what options he had to respond to Iran’s nuclear expansion.

They said Pompeo and Milley outlined the risks of military escalation, and that officials left the meeting with the impression that Trump had been dissuaded from launching a missile attack.

But, they said Trump may still be looking into ways to strike Iranian assets and allies, including militias in Iraq, the New York Times reported.