Secretary of State Marco Rubio will brief top lawmakers about the apparent slide toward war taking place in the Middle East.
President Donald Trump has said Iran cannot be allowed to have the ability to obtain a nuclear weapon, and while talks to accomplish that end have been under way, they are making little progress.
As the negotiations have slogged onward, the U.S. has launched a massive military buildup in the Middle East that includes two aircraft carriers and other assets, enabling attacks on Iranian targets and protection of American installations and regional allies.
The briefing will take place at the White House prior to Trump’s State of the Union message on Tuesday night, according toPolitico, which cited sources it did not name.
House and Senate leaders and the senior members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have been invited, Politico reported.
Although talks continue on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program, a report fromReutersindicated that officials in the region “consider a conflict to be more likely than a settlement, these sources say, with Washington building up one of its biggest military deployments in the region since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.”
Two Israeli officials Reuters did not name said the differences between Iran and the U.S. are too wide for there to be an agreement.
“Both sides are sticking to their guns,” Alan Eyre, a former U.S. diplomat and Iran specialist, said, adding no deal will take place “unless the U.S. and Iran walk back from their red lines — which I don’t think they will.”
“What Trump can’t do is assemble all this military, and then come back with a ‘so‑so’ deal and pull out the military. I think he thinks he’ll lose face,” he said. “If he attacks, it’s going to get ugly quickly.”
Within Iran, students held anti-government protests over the weekend, according to theAssociated Press.
Source: VidNews » Feed
