Trump Weighs War With Iran

From the New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is The Daily. For weeks, The United States has been building up an enormous military presence around Iran, even as negotiators from both countries plan to meet later this week in the hopes of finding a diplomatic off ramp to the escalating tensions. Now, as president Trump signals a potential attack, our colleague David Sanger explains what the president hopes to achieve through military action and why he's chosen this moment. It's Tuesday, February 24. David Sanger, welcome back to The Daily. Rachel, great to be with you. The last time we talked about Iran on the show, we were in the middle of this brutal crackdown on anti government protesters who were protesting the regime. And at the time, there was a huge question about whether The United States would take some kind of military action. That obviously did not happen. But in the weeks since, we have seen this massive military buildup in the region. So, David, can you just start by describing what that buildup looks like and what we understand about what exactly is going on in this moment? Well, Rachel, the buildup is the largest we've seen in The Middle East since the run up to the war in Iraq in 2003. Wow. There are two aircraft carriers in the region, the Abraham Lincoln and the Gerald r Ford, which has come back from Venezuela. There are fighter jets, refueling capability, bombers. They are all taking up positions from Jordan all through our bases in the region. And meanwhile, there's the last gasp of a diplomatic track underway. On Thursday, we expect that the Iranians will be meeting with the two main American negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, to present a package that might satisfy president Trump's demands. But the president has made clear that he is thinking of everything from a limited strike on Iran to what could be a much larger military action that could take days or weeks. You mentioned that the president has made demands. What are those demands exactly? Like, what does The United States want right now, and what are they trying to achieve either through these talks or through any kind of potential military action? You know, there's a bit of a murkiness on this issue. Usually, when presidents get to a situation like this, they're pretty clear about what it is they are seeking. But in this case, the president has not been clear. The president's offered a dizzying array of rationales for the military action that we may see. Donald Trump is urging Iranians to keep protesting, saying If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, The United States Of America will come to their rescue. He's talked about supporting the protesters, of course. We talked about Hamas and we talked about disarmament. He's talked about cutting off support for the proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas. There's nothing that would do …