DONALD TRUMP'S advisers reportedly talked the President out of a significant missile strike against Iran due to fears it may have triggered a war.
According to the New York Times, Mr Trump supposedly asked his senior advisers about taking action against Iran's main nuclear site during a meeting last Thursday.
It's understood that Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were also present.
The meeting took place just a day after UN inspectors confirmed that Iran had significantly increased its stockpile of nuclear material.
Iran was found to have a collection of nuclear material 12 times larger than the limit set under the nuclear accord in 2015, which Trump himself pulled out of in 2018.
The President's advisers dissuaded him from launching either a missile strike or a cyber strike agains Iran's enrichment facility in Natanz, located around 200 miles south of the Iranian capital of Tehran.
"Trump asked for options. They gave him the scenarios and he ultimately decided not to go forward," a source told Reuters.
He was reportedly warned that any action could result in a wider conflict with Iran, just weeks before the presidency is due to be handed over to Joe Biden.
Mr Biden apparently intends to revive the Iran nuclear accord when he takes office on January 20, but any such plan could go up in smoke if tensions are escalated before then.
According to the New York Times, national security officials within the Defense Department are growing increasingly concerned that Trump may take action against Iran before the end of his term.
Since the report that Trump was talked out of a missile strike, Iran have spoken out against the US, claiming they would instigate a "crushing response" should America attack them.
