Trump Says General Caine Ready to Strike Iran If Ordered

(MENAFN) U.S. President Donald Trump declared Monday that Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stands ready to command a potential military strike against Iran should the order be given — though Trump stressed he would prefer to resolve tensions through diplomacy.

The remarks came as the Washington Post reported Monday that Caine had cautioned senior officials at a White House meeting last week that critical munitions shortfalls and a lack of allied backing could significantly endanger U.S. forces in any potential operation against Iran, according to sources familiar with the closed-door discussions.

Caine’s office pushed back on the framing in a Friday statement, clarifying that as the president’s foremost military adviser, the chairman “provides a range of military options, as well as secondary considerations and associated impacts and risks, to the civilian leaders who make America’s security decisions.”

Amid the military deliberations, diplomatic channels remain open. A new round of U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations is scheduled for Thursday in Geneva, where talks are expected to center on Tehran’s uranium enrichment levels and the prospect of sanctions relief.

Yet optimism remains measured. The two previous rounds of dialogue yielded little tangible progress, leaving both the diplomatic and military tracks in a state of unresolved tension as the Geneva talks approach.

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