Trump weighs strike as Iran allies hold back

Washington: US President Donald Trump is weighing military options against Iran as diplomacy enters what officials describe as a last-ditch phase, even as Tehran’s closest partners — China and Russia — appear reluctant to offer direct military backing in any conflict with the United States.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Iran has sought for years to build closer military ties with Beijing and Moscow. But its powerful friends are “proving reluctant to step forward” as the regime faces what the paper described as the “most acute US threat to its survival in decades.”

Russia and Iran conducted small-scale naval drills in the Gulf of Oman this past week. An exercise involving Chinese ships is also planned in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media reported. Yet analysts told the Journal that Beijing and Moscow have shown little willingness to provide direct military assistance if Trump orders an attack on Iran.

“They’re not going to sacrifice their own interests for the Iranian regime,” Danny Citrinowicz, a former Israeli military intelligence official, was quoted as saying. “They are hoping the regime will not be toppled, but they are definitely not going to counter the US militarily.”

At the same time, The New York Times reported that Trump has told advisers that if diplomacy or any initial targeted U.S. attack does not lead Iran to give up its nuclear programme, he would consider a much larger assault intended to drive the country’s leaders from power.

Negotiators from Washington and Tehran are scheduled to meet in Geneva for talks aimed at avoiding military conflict. But Trump has been weighing options for US action if negotiations fail.

Targets under consideration range from the headquarters of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to nuclear and ballistic missile facilities, the Times reported.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, insisted in a television interview that the country was not ready to give up what he called its “right” to make nuclear fuel under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Meanwhile, Senator Jeff Merkley warned against unilateral military action. “Any decision to launch military action without congressional authorization would violate the Constitution, undermine ongoing diplomatic efforts, and risk putting American troops and innocent civilians in the crossfire,” he said in a statement.

Merkley added, “Only Congress has the constitutional authority to declare war.”

In a separate interview cited by the New York Post, special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff said Iran could be “a week away” from having “industrial-grade bomb-making material,” intensifying pressure on the White House to act.

For India, any escalation in the Strait of Hormuz carries immediate consequences. Around a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes through the narrow waterway. Disruption would likely affect global crude prices and shipping routes critical to India’s energy security.

IANS