US President Donald Trump has been presented by Pentagon with options that include a plan to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his son Mojtaba, even as diplomatic channels remain open for a nuclear deal, American digital news outlet Axios has reported, citing senior US officials and advisers.
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“They have something for every scenario. One scenario takes out the ayatollah and his son and the mullahs,” a presidential adviser reportedly said. The report said the plan was first floated to Trump several weeks ago.
The White House declined to clarify the president’s intentions, with spokeswoman Anna Kelly saying: “Only President Trump knows what he may or may not do.”
‘Regime change’ on the table
Trump is simultaneously weighing a diplomatic path: a nuclear deal that could permit Iran “token” uranium enrichment, provided it offers no pathway to a bomb.
Trump has said that regime change in Tehran “may be the best thing that can happen”.
Khamenei fired back at a public address, “This is a good confession. You will not be able to do this either,” according to Iranian state media.
Trump apparently set a deadline, telling reporters that “10 to 15 days” was enough time for Iran to reach a deal.
Talks in Geneva, but deadlock persists
Amid ominous signs, Washington and Tehran completed a second round of indirect talks focused on nuclear energy development, in Geneva, mediated by Oman.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the two sides had reached an understanding on “guiding principles”. He said, “The path toward an agreement has started but we will not reach it quickly.” A US official told NBC News that “progress was made, but there are still a lot of details to discuss”.
US envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner participated in the Geneva talks, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters.
Iranian sources told Reuters that Trump has demanded Iran end uranium enrichment entirely, curtail its ballistic missile programme, and halt support for armed proxies — all long-standing Iranian red lines.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told AFP: “We are ready to continue these talks as long as it takes. There is no trust between the two parties.”
Iran is not currently enriching uranium, its centrifuge facilities having been largely destroyed in Israeli-US airstrikes last June, with both Washington and Jerusalem warning they would strike again if enrichment resumes.
Military build-up
Even as diplomacy proceeds, the US military build-up in the region has been accelerating. Two US officials told Reuters that the military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if Trump orders an attack. Trump has deployed two aircraft carrier groups to the Gulf; a second is due in position by mid-March.
Iran has responded in similar fashion, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps conducting live-fire naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz.
IRGC navy chief Alireza Tangsiri told state television his forces could close the strait — through which roughly a fifth of global oil and gas supplies flow — entirely if ordered.
Khamenei warned Trump’s warships were no guarantee of safety: “A warship is certainly a dangerous weapon, but even more dangerous is the weapon capable of sinking it.” In a letter to the UN Security Council, Iran’s UN ambassador warned that all US bases and assets in the region would constitute “legitimate targets” in any defensive response.
International alarm as UK ‘refuses bases’
UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, asked if London had rejected a US request to use Royal Air Force bases for Iran-related operations, did not deny the reports but stressed British preference for a negotiated settlement. Poland has urged its citizens to leave Iran immediately, warning that evacuation could soon “become impossible”. Germany has moved non-mission critical military personnel out of a base in northern Iraq. Sweden and Australia have also urged nationals to leave.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has said a war “would be in the interest of neither Iran, nor the United States, nor the region”.
Kushner, Trump’s businessman son-in-law who is also his preferred interlocutor, is helping assemble a group of Iranian-American business leaders to advise on possible transitional governance should the regime collapse, with exiled former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi reportedly in contact with the Trump administration about a potential role, multiple reports said.