NYT: Trump weighs new military options against Iran, including raids on nuclear sites

US President Donald Trump has been presented with an expanded list of potential military options against Iran aimed at damaging the country’s nuclear and missile facilities or weakening Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, multiple U.S. officials told The New York Times.

One of the possible scenarios for an attack on Iran could involve a special forces raid on Iranian nuclear facilities that were not destroyed during the 12-day war in June 2025.

"The current set of options even includes the potential for American forces to carry out raids on sites inside Iran, and it comes in a different context, now that the protests have been brutally quashed, at least for the time being," the report reads. 

In recent days, U.S. President Donald Trump and his advisers have been discussing options that would be significantly broader in scope than those previously considered, the report says.

Among alternative options under discussion are strikes on targets that could trigger internal chaos and instability, which some advisers believe could create conditions for a change in Iran’s supreme leadership under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Israel, for its part, is reportedly advocating a separate approach that would involve a large-scale joint attack with the United States on Iran’s missile infrastructure.

As for Iran, officials remain sceptical that Tehran will accept the terms put forward by the United States, which include a complete halt to uranium enrichment and the surrender of all existing nuclear stockpiles, starting with more than 960 pounds of uranium enriched to near bomb-grade levels. 

By Khagan Isayev