With Trump weighing military operations against Iran, questions remain on targets and objectives

Published January 30, 2026 4:42pm ET



President Donald Trump is weighing his options for whether to authorize a kinetic military operation against Iran, but there are questions about what the objective and targets could be in such a mission.

The president warned that an American “armada” is heading to the Middle East, first threatening earlier this month that he would get involved if Iran kept massacring its own population amid widespread protests but has since demanded that they agree to a new deal involving their nuclear program to preempt a possible U.S. attack.

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