Senior administration officials briefed reporters on Saturday on preparations for U.S. strikes against Iran, saying the U.S. had sought a diplomatic solution to its impasse with Iran but that it had proven “not a tangible and realistic option.”
They said the factors in President Trump’s decision to attack were the long-term threat posed by Tehran’s ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons and the short-term threat posed by its conventional missile capability. In the negotiations, the Iranians “refused in every case to address ballistic missiles,” the officials said. They added that Iran refused to engage with proxies, which Mr. Trump said was “a critical issue that must be addressed in any agreement.”
After U.S. strikes against Iran’s nuclear program last year, the U.S. concluded that we need to address it as Iran begins to rebuild, the officials said.
According to a senior administration official, there were “indications” that Iran might use conventional missiles against them “preemptively, if not concurrently” with any U.S. action
The president “would not sit back and wait to get hit first,” and if he had, “the number of casualties and damage would be significantly higher” than if the U.S. acted preemptively, they said.
In the negotiations, Mr. Trump pushed for a deal that would prevent Iran from ever developing a nuclear weapon, saying the talks “were not serious about reaching a real deal.” U.S. negotiators offered to provide Iran with “free nuclear fuel forever” for a safe civilian nuclear program, but the Iranians insisted on maintaining the ability to enrich their own nuclear fuel, the officials said.
Iran initially agreed “not to enrich for a short period of time” but then withdrew its agreement, the officials said, which the U.S. interpreted as “a clear signal to us that it wanted to buy time.”
“It was clear to us that they were in the process of rebuilding everything that had been destroyed in Midnight Hammer,” they added.
The senior officials said it was “very clear” that Iran’s intention was to “preserve its enrichment capability so that over time they can use that for a nuclear bomb.” They said Iran had been offered “many, many opportunities” for a civilian, peaceful nuclear program, “but instead it was met with games, tricks and delaying tactics.” They concluded that Mr. Trump “frankly had no choice” but to act.
When U.S. negotiators asked Iran about its enrichment material and capabilities needs, Tehran presented them with a seven-page plan that the IAEA estimated would give Iran an enrichment capability about five times greater than that of the previous Iran nuclear deal. Mr. Trump withdrew from that deal during his first term.
The senior administration officials said Iran has developed the ability to build its own centrifuges – IR-6 centrifuges that they said are “the fastest on the market” – and has been building production capacity since the U.S. attacks on its nuclear facilities.
Last year’s attacks did not target Tehran’s research reactor, which requires 20% enrichment protocols to produce radioisotopes for making medicines and conducting agricultural research, the officials said. But the IAEA said Iran did not use fissile material to make drugs and instead stockpiled it.
Tehran had about 450 kg of 60% enriched uranium and technically only had 90% weapons-grade uranium left for a week, the officials said.
