https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/23/trump-iran-airstrikes-nuclear-deal
Donald Trump’s decision to order airstrikes against Iran will hinge in part on the judgment of his special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, about whether Tehran is stalling over a deal to relinquish its capacity to produce nuclear weapons, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump has not made a final determination on any strikes, as the administration prepares for Iran to send its latest proposal this week, ahead of what officials have described as a last-ditch round of negotiations scheduled for Thursday in Geneva.

Those talks will be led by Witkoff and Kushner, whose assessment on the likelihood of a deal will shape Trump’s calculus. If there is no deal, Trump has told advisers he is considering limited strikes to pressure Iran and, failing that, a far larger attack to force regime change.

A US official said on Monday that Witkoff was part of the group advising Trump on his decision about how to proceed with Iran and had been involved in all meetings related to the matter.

Trump has received multiple briefings on military options, the people said, including most recently on Wednesday in the White House Situation Room. He has also solicited views from a broad range of officials in the West Wing in recent weeks on what he should do with Iran.

The other main advisers include the vice-president, JD Vance; the secretary of state, Marco Rubio; the CIA director, John Ratcliffe; the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth; Gen Dan Caine, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff; Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff; and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence.

Vance has presented both sides of the argument for airstrikes. But he has pressed Caine on the possible risks, not least because he has been far less confident about the likelihood of success with attacking Iran than he was about the operation to capture Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.