Donald Trump Pressures Military Operation Against Iran, White House Debates Motive and Objectives

Intense discussions are roiling the American administration over the temptation of an imminent military operation against the Iranian regime, with the motive, means, and objectives described as raising questions.

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El Mundo

The pressure is fueled by Donald Trump himself, who has repeatedly pledged the United States' backing for the protesters, including a January 13 post on his Truth Social network saying, "Aid is on the way!"

El Mundo

The plan remains to be determined, with the Pentagon based on available military options and excluding a ground presence.

Le Monde also frames the White House appetite as tied to "the euphoria of the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela" on January 3 and a sense of a historic opportunity to decapitate the Iranian regime.

Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against two agencies under his administration in federal court in Miami, seeking more than $10 billion from the U.S. Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over an alleged unauthorized leak of his tax returns during his first term between 2017 and 2021.

The complaint, filed by his sons Donald Jr. and Eric along with the Trump Organization, is described as risking a conflict of interest because the president controls Department of Justice officials who are supposed to oversee the court cases.

EL PAÍS

El País also recalls that Trump has criticized the IRS for allegedly "investigating him for political purposes" and that he previously claimed $5 billion from JPMorgan Chase and its chief executive Jamie Dimon for closing his accounts after the Capitol riot.

The article further ties the legal strategy to Trump urging hundreds of people to descend on the U.S. Capitol to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election, after which an enraged mob stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

A NATO leaders' summit is set to take place in Ankara, with the article saying NATO partners land this Tuesday in the Turkish capital for the alliance's leaders' summit.

“The anger in Albania has not yet subsided”

La Croix

The U.S. president is described as the center of gravity of the meeting, while NATO's 32 members include EU heavyweight countries and the United Kingdom preparing for months to define how to modulate the tone with Trump and prevent White House threats to leave the organization from becoming a reality.

El Mundo says the secretary general, the Dutch Mark Rutte, will maintain his spirit of perpetual adulation toward "daddy" Trump, as he called him at the previous annual meeting.

It also describes a public clash between Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after she said Trump had "begged" to take a photo with him "with all his might" during the G-7 summit in France, and it quotes Trump responding that "His popularity is at the floor."