MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump is considering a range of Pentagon-proposed military scenarios against Iran, including raids and special forces operations, but remains open to diplomatic solutions and negotiations with Tehran, The New York Times reported, citing US officials.
TASS has summed up key facts about the current escalation.
Trump’s plans
Trump is looking at different military options against Iran, ground operations among them, but prefers to find a diplomatic solution to the situation, The New York Times reported, citing US officials.
According to the officials, Trump has recently been presented with an expanded list of options for potential strikes on Iran.
Thus, The US leader is considering sending US troops to Iran to conduct raids, as well as intensified attacks on Iranian nuclear and missile facilities.
Among the riskiest scenarios under consideration is the covert deployment of US special forces to destroy or disable Iranian nuclear sites that were not hit during the US strikes in June 2025.
Another option involves a series of strikes on facilities directly linked to Iran’s leadership, aimed at creating internal chaos and paving the way for regime change.
The Israeli side, for its part, is seeking to persuade Washington to target sites connected to Iran’s missile program.
Meanwhile, the officials emphasized that the US leader has not yet selected any of the military options proposed by the Pentagon and continues to prefer a diplomatic approach.
Some of the newspaper’s sources noted that Trump’s threats were partly meant to push Iran toward negotiations.
Trump’s statement on a 'massive armada'
Trump said earlier that a "massive armada" was heading toward Iran.
He expressed hope that Tehran would return to the negotiating table and conclude a "fair and equitable" deal, implying a complete renunciation of nuclear weapons.
The US leader recalled that the United States carried out strikes on nuclear facilities in the Islamic republic last June in an operation dubbed Midnight Hammer.
He warned that "the next attack will be far worse," urging not to let "that happen again."
Iran’s response
Any aggression against Iran would expose all US and allied military infrastructure in the Middle East within Iran’s reach to potential strikes by the Iranian army, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, an elite unit of the Iranian armed forces) Abdollah Haji Sadeghi said.
Over the past two days, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has held six phone talks with his counterparts from Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Oman, and Turkey, the Iranian foreign ministry said.
- These calls were focused on the current spiral of tension in the Middle East, according to the ministry.
Russia’s position
The Kremlin is keeping a close eye on the developments around Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the talks with his visiting UAE counterpart, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Earlier, the Russian leader held phone talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
The situation in the Middle East and around Iran was the focus of Putin’s call with Netanyahu.
The Russian leader reiterated Russia’s readiness to "continue relevant mediatory efforts, promote a constructive dialogue involving all countries concerned."
During the phone call with Pezeshkian, the two leaders spoke in favor of the soonest normalization of the situation around Iran and in the region in general.
The Kremlin calls for showing restraint and rejecting force methods of settling the situation around Iran, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.
He also noted that there’s still room to negotiate and the use of force will only create chaos in the region.
Commenting on the United States’ potential aggression against Iran, Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya advised Washington to "measure twice and cut none."
Iran is now better prepared for a potential attack than it was in the summer of 2025, he noted.
Global reaction
Gulf countries, including Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, are trying to prevent a new war between the United States and Iran, The Financial Times reported
According to the newspaper, Arab and Muslim states "have been engaging with both the US and Iran in a bid to de-escalate tensions" between the two countries.
Specifically, they are trying to dissuade President Donald Trump from attacking Iran.
These countries fear that such a move could "trigger a broader conflict in the Middle East and cause Tehran to target oil and gas facilities in the Gulf," the newspaper noted.
Azerbaijan will never allow its territory or airspace to be used to carry out strikes against Iran, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said during a phone call with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi.
According to the top Azerbaijani diplomat, his country rejects any steps and rhetoric thatcould destabilize the situation in and around Iran.