Trump Had Considered Attacking Iran Last Week When He Was ‘Losing’ the Presidency

2020 saw many major events happen.

Off the top of your head, you can probably name the COVID-19 pandemic and Singapore’s General Elections as some.

And more recently, you’d likely have seen these two people a lot: Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

The US Presidential Elections have been hot in the news, especially since it was projected that Joe Biden will win it.

Trump, however, has not admitted defeat and was even filing lawsuits against supposed voters fraud.

However, it turns out that using lawsuits to claim victory isn’t the only thing Trump was doing while he was losing the race while still in office.

Considered Attacking Iran

It’s even more serious than it looks.

It was reported that on 16 Nov, a US official mentioned that Trump had asked for advice on attacking one of Iran’s main nuclear sites at Natanz last week.

However, he decided not to do it in the end.

Trump apparently made the request during an Oval Office meeting on 12 Nov with some really big names.

By the way, that was when Joe Biden was leading in the race.

The meeting included Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, new acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The New York Times said that Trump was ultimately advised against this to avoid further conflict with Iran.

So, why the attack?

Causes Of Conflict

Let’s backtrack to 8 May 2018.

On that day, Trump had decided to pull the US from an international nuclear deal with Iran.

The 2015 agreement was to lift sanctions on Iran in exchange for Teheran, the capital city, limiting its nuclear programme.

This was worked out by the United States, five other world powers and Iran.

The pact, negotiated by former US President Barack Obama, was designed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.

A spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said Iran’s nuclear program is purely for peaceful and civilian use.

He added that Trump’s policies have not changed it.

However, he also says that Iran has been proven to use its strong military to fight off aggressors if need be.

And then, on 3 Jan this year, Trump ordered a drone strike on Iran.

This killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad’s airport, chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Yes, that was when we’ve an inkling that 2020 was going to be bad with World War 3; it turned out to be just as bad with COVID-19 but anyways.

Has Not Proceeded With Anything More

Since then, Trump, however, has not done too much more to aggravate this conflict.

This is a relief, as attacking the nuclear site at Natanz might incite more conflict between the nations.

It would also become a serious foreign policy issue when Biden takes over.

Trump is to hand over power to Biden on 20 Jan 2021, and hopefully, nothing drastic will happen by then.

But that’s not to say Trump hasn’t done anything good, as we’ve compiled 10 of his achievements during his term as president.

Featured Image: Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock.com