Trump Presents Iran With Three Options: Annihilation, Attrition, or a Deal

U.S. President Donald Trump has presented Iran with three options: destroy it completely through war, squeeze it with economic sanctions, or reach a deal through negotiations. He also left open the possibility of harsh military action, saying he is at the stage of deciding "whether to blow the entire country to pieces." According to Fox News chief correspondent Trey Yingst, who spoke with the president by phone on the 20th (local time), Trump is currently in "decision mode" and that very big things will happen soon. Trump was reported as saying, "My question is when — and whether — I will blow up this entire country. They had better behave." The remarks reaffirmed what he told Axios in an interview on the 17th, when he said "a critical decision is approaching on whether to annihilate them or not."

Asked whether he would be willing to meet Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the UN General Assembly in New York this week, Trump replied, "Maybe." The United States allowed Pezeshkian and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, among other key Iranian envoys, to attend the General Assembly. Trump is also scheduled to meet with leaders of the six Gulf states during the gathering.

Signs of the escalating tensions kept coming. Trump cut short his weekend stay at Camp David and returned early to the White House on the 19th, and on the 20th the State Department issued an emergency alert through its embassies in nine Middle Eastern countries, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, warning of "the possibility of unpredictable escalation." Iran's Joint Armed Forces Command warned in a statement that if an attack is launched, it would retaliate against U.S. bases and allied nations. Still, regarding Yemen's pro-Iranian Houthi rebels, who attacked Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the previous day, Trump said the United States is "in constant communication with them, and they have agreed not to fight the United States."

With Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz now in its seventh month, the nationwide average price of gasoline in the United States surpassed $4.48 per gallon as of the 20th, according to AAA. Trump said at a rally in Gastonia, North Carolina, on the 18th in support of Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley that gas prices would "come crashing down like a rocket in reverse," but uneasy voices are growing within the Republican Party.