Donald Trump is ‘considering limited strike’ on Iran

US President Donald Trump told reporters today that he is considering a ‘limited strike’ on Iran.

Asked about growing fears of war at a breakfast with governors at the White House today, he said: ‘I guess I can say, I am considering it.’

Laughter can be heard after Trump says this, according to social media footage of the exchange.

The journalist who asked the question was reportedly escorted out afterwards.

‘Who was that person?’ Trump can be heard saying in the video.

The exchange appears to have been cut off in the official White House video feed.

The reporter asked Trump whether he would resort to a limited strike to pressure Iran to accept a deal on its nuclear programme.

Whether Iran agrees to restrict its nuclear power again has been the key driver of the months-long tension between Washington and Tehran.

A 2015 deal that limited Iran’s nuclear enrichment expired in October, months after Israel and the US bombed Iranian nuclear facilities.

To stop the country from making a nuclear weapon, the US ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear programme, Trump said. They left Iran’s stockpile of uranium, enough to make 11 atomic bombs, in the rubble.

Trump administration officials have diplomatically sought to have Iran agree to new restrictions, with talks being held in Geneva on Tuesday.

The Pentagon, however, has been quietly rebuilding the US military presence in the Middle East. A sign that Washington may be preparing for war, military analysts say.

Trump warned yesterday that ‘bad things’ will happen if Tehran does not comply.

Among the warplanes spotted on their way to the region are F/A-18s, which can engage enemy warplanes and attack targets on the ground.

Analysts are closely watching the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s biggest aircraft carrier, which was just off the coast of Morocco yesterday.

At her current speed, the Ford will be in the Mediterranean Sea by Sunday morning. The Ford is flanked by a fleet of destroyers – nimble ships that escort larger vessels.

Iran, meanwhile, has fortified an underground complex just by its new enrichment site known as Pickaxe Mountain.

No one knows for sure what the facility in the mountain, also known as Mount Kolang Gaz La, is for, but experts suggest it’s to protect uranium.

Uranium needs to be enriched for it to be used as fuel for atomic reactors and weapons. The costly process to do so involves spinning the material in centrifuges.

Under the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran was only allowed to keep up to 300kg of enriched uranium.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned last year, however, that Iran has more than 400kg of uranium purified at 60%.

Uranium must be purified to at least 90% to make a nuclear bomb, which can take months.

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