US Mulling an ‘Off Ramp’ On Iran As Top General Advises Trump Iran Attack Would Be ‘Far More Difficult’ Than Venezuela: NYT

• President Trump is considering a military attack on Iran if diplomatic efforts fail to persuade the country to abandon its nuclear program.
• Trump and key members of his administration are planning to meet with Iranian negotiators in Geneva as a last-ditch effort to avoid a military conflict.
• General Dan “Raizin” Caine has warned Trump that attacking Iran would be much more challenging than the operation that captured Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump is weighing options to avoid a major military conflict with Iran if the country does not ditch its nuclear program after General Dan “Raizin” Caine told him an attack would be “far more difficult” than the operation that captured Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, The New York Times reported on Sunday evening.

The report said Trump and key members of his administration are heading to Geneva on Thursday to meet with Iranian negotiators; the meeting appears to be a “last-ditch” effort to avoid a military conflict.

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“President Trump has told advisers that if diplomacy or any initial targeted U.S. attack does not lead Iran to give in to his demands that it give up its nuclear program, he will consider a much bigger attack in coming months intended to drive that country’s leaders from power,” the report said, based on “people briefed on internal administration deliberations.”

The Times story has four reporters on the byline — Julian E. Barnes, David E. Sanger, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt. 

Members of Trump’s team and on the Iranian side are both considering an “off-ramp to military conflict,” which would include a “very limited nuclear enrichment program” that would only be used for medical research, the report said. That is because some members of the administration have expressed “doubts” a full dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program occur, if the U.S. only conducts airstrikes.

Here is a key section on Caine warning Trump that attacking Iran could be harder than first expected:

During the discussions of the operation last month to seize President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, General Caine told Mr. Trump there was a high likelihood of success. But General Caine has not been able to deliver the same reassurances to Mr. Trump during the Iran discussions, in large measure because it is a far more difficult target.
[Vice President JD] Vance, who has long called for more restraint in overseas military action, did not oppose a strike, but he intensely questioned General Caine and Mr. Ratcliffe in the meeting. He pressed them to share their opinions of the options and wanted more of a discussion of the risks and complexity of carrying out a strike against Iran.

The report comes a few days after CBS senior White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs reported top military officials told Trump the military is ready for a potential strike as soon as this weekend. And Axios’s Barak Ravid reported on February 18 that “a U.S. military operation in Iran would likely be a massive, weeks-long campaign that would look more like full-fledged war than last month’s pinpoint operation in Venezuela, sources say.”

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All of this comes amid months of protests against Iran’s theocratic regime inside the country.

The Times report added Trump is leaving open the possibility for a “military assault later this year intended to help topple Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It appears this could go a number of ways heading into the big summit this Thursday.

The post US Mulling an ‘Off Ramp’ On Iran As Top General Advises Trump Iran Attack Would Be ‘Far More Difficult’ Than Venezuela: NYT first appeared on Mediaite.

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