President Trump asked for options to attack Iran, just days after the 2020 race was called for Biden. On the 12th of November, United States President Donald J. Trump had assembled senior advisors in the Oval Office to ask whether he could take action against Iran’s most important nuclear weapons site. According to the New York Times, “A range of senior advisers dissuaded the president from moving ahead with a military strike. The advisers — including Vice President Mike Pence; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Christopher C. Miller, the acting defense secretary; and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — warned that a strike against Iran’s facilities could easily escalate into a broader conflict in the last weeks of Mr. Trump’s presidency,” This conveniently had been discussed within 24 hours after the International Atomic Energy Agency had reported that Iran’s uranium stockpile was 12 times bigger than permitted. However, the word permitted is considered questionable due to the United States withdrawing from the Iran deal on May 8th, 2018. It should also be noted that Iran’s behavior beforehand remained compliant with the rules set in place since the finalization of the deal.
Trump’s curiosity has met controversy as many individuals have speculated an ulterior motive in play to leave President-Elect Biden in difficult circumstances when enacted as President. Former Vice President Biden has previously stated that one of his Day 1 executive orders would be to re-enter the Iran Nuclear Deal, yet if an attack had been done by Trump weeks before his departure, it would have been nearly impossible for Biden to do so. This reported behavior by Trump also conflicts with one of his front-running policies of not participating in any more wars while withdrawing troops from the Middle East. However, these promises have not been met with fulfillment as 2,500 troops remain in Iraq, 2,500 troops remain in Afghanistan, and thousands more spread throughout the Middle East. The transition between both administrations in the coming weeks is an exciting spectacle that will be unprecedented on nearly every front. Never has there been an unwillingness to this extent to pass along power towards the next presidential era, especially in a time when the United States has posed itself as fragile and divided than ever before.
CIMA Law Group Blog 