President Trump looked to be on the cusp of deciding whether to join Israel’s attack on Iran on Wednesday.

Trump told reporters at the White House that he had “ideas” of what he wanted to do but had not reached a definitive conclusion. In general, he said, he likes “to make a final decision one second before it’s due.”

Late Wednesday afternoon, The Wall Street Journal reported that, the previous day, Trump had told senior aides he had signed off on plans to attack Iran but had not ordered those plans be put fully into motion until he saw whether Iran would abandon its nuclear program.

Iran has vigorously defended its right to continue enriching uranium, even as the nation’s leaders have insisted the substance is intended only for civilian use.

The political push and pull over whether U.S. forces should directly participate in the Israel-led assault is intense. It has huge stakes for the region at large — and perhaps for Trump’s presidency as well.

On a purely practical level, it has been widely reported that Israel needs direct American assistance to accomplish even its most short-term goal of destroying the Iranian nuclear program.

One of the key Iranian enrichment facilities, at Fordow, is built into a mountain. Destroying it likely requires the use of enormous bunker buster 30,000-pound bombs, which only the U.S. possesses or has a plane capable of........

© The Hill