Trump to Meet With National Security Team to Discuss Iran

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump will meet with top members of his National Security Council Friday to discuss possible courses of action on Iran, according to a person familiar with the plan.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford are to present military retaliation options, should Trump decide to strike after the Saudi Arabia oil installation attack, the New York Times previously reported.

Saudi and U.S. officials have said that the drones and missiles used in last weekend’s attack on critical oil facilities in the kingdom were made by Iran, had never before been deployed by Iranian proxy groups, and came from a northerly direction. Iran has denied involvement in the attacks, which were claimed by the Yemeni rebels allied with the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warned Thursday in a CNN interview that any U.S. or Saudi strike on his country in response would lead to “all-out war.”

Trump said earlier this week that he wants tougher U.S. sanctions on Iran as his top diplomat seeks to build a coalition of international support for tougher measures.

The U.S. reimposed sanctions on Iran after exiting the 2015 nuclear deal, kicking off a year of increasingly fraught relations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, Kathleen Hunter

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