President Trump Considered Bombing Iran: Report

US President Donald Trump last week seriously mulled a military attack against Iranian nuclear facilities, consulting advisers about possible targets, The New York Times reported Tuesday. According to several unnamed sources who spoke with The Times, the president was advised by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley that such an act would lead to massive unrest and violence, and eventually seemed to give up the notion. Another front in which the president hopes to leave his mark before leaving office on Jan. 20, 2021 is Afghanistan, where sources on Sunday claimed President Trump’s promise of evacuating the country entirely by Christmas seems unlikely to materialize. According to Reuters, defense officials in the Pentagon managed to persuade the president to cut the remaining troops in Afghanistan by only about 2,000 in the coming weeks, down to 2,500. While Trump hopes to withdraw completely before his departure, others in the administration, and the US’s allies in the region, insist that such a move would lead to further chaos in the Middle East.