Trump focused on avoiding wider conflict as he nears decision on US strikes in Iran, sources say

Trump is weighing whether to join Israel’s strikes on Iran — including using bunker-busting bombs to target nuclear facilities deep underground.

As President Donald Trump weighs whether to join Israel’s strikes on Iran — including using bunker-busting bombs to target nuclear facilities deep underground — a discussion is underway among his top officials over how the US can strike those targets without becoming embroiled in a full-scale war, sources familiar with the matter said. For Trump, trying to avoid prolonging the conflict that began last Thursday has become a top imperative. While he is receptive to arguments, including from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that only the US can decisively end Iran’s nuclear ambitions, he is deeply wary of becoming bogged down in the type of foreign conflict he vowed to avoid, the sources said. Over the weekend, some US allies received word that the Trump administration was planning to wait and see what the Israelis accomplished during the first week of their operation against Iran’s nuclear program before making a decision on getting involved with US military assets, two European diplomats said. A day ahead of that deadline, Trump said he had not made a final decision on how to proceed, and in conversations with US allies on Wednesday, administration officials did not definitively lean in one direction or the other, the diplomats said. Trump has reviewed attack plans for Iran but is holding off to see if Tehran steps back from its nuclear program, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. “I like to make the final decision one second before it’s due,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “Especially with war, things change with war. It can go from one extreme to the other.” As the president mulls his options, he has said he does not believe a US strike necessarily means a complete US intervention in a foreign war, a source familiar with the matter said. And people close to Trump have argued that decisive strikes are different from broader action that could prolong the conflict.