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4 months ago
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Key questions remain unanswered as White House waits for Iran's next movepublished at 16:33 British Summer Time
Gary O'Donoghue
Chief North America correspondent
Washington is waiting with bated breath to see exactly what Iran’s next move will be.
At the White House, Donald Trump is set to chair another meeting of the National Security Council in the next few hours, which will assess the threat of potential Iranian retaliation.
While there are no concrete threats on US soil, the country remains on heightened alert – especially around the risk of cyber attacks. That concern has only grown after Iran’s escalating rhetoric towards Israel and warnings directed at the United States.
Meanwhile, the messaging from the Trump administration has been somewhat mixed.
Vice-President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have insisted this is not about regime change - only for President Trump, all of a sudden, to openly muse about it.
He posted on social media: “If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on those comments on US networks this morning.
"If Iran won’t negotiate," she told Fox News, “why shouldn't the Iranian people take away the power of this incredibly violent regime that has been suppressing them for decades?”
That has generated uncertainty about what the president’s ultimate intentions are.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio insists there will be no further action against Iran “unless they start messing around”. That leaves the options wide open.
Meanwhile, key questions remain unanswered – particularly, the whereabouts of Iran’s nuclear material. Can the US truly claim to have destroyed Iran’s nuclear programme if it doesn’t know where the enriched uranium is?
