Trump weighs potential U.S. military strike on Iran, demands ‘unconditional surrender’

President Donald Trump is considering whether to launch a military strike against Iran as he demands the country’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “surrender” in Tehran’s conflict with Israel, current and former administration officials told NBC News on Tuesday.

A strike by the United States is one option among a range that Trump is weighing after meeting with his top national security advisors in the Situation Room on Tuesday afternoon, the officials told NBC.

The meeting came hours after Trump warned Khamenei that the U.S. knows “exactly” where he is “hiding.”

“Our patience is wearing thin,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump wrote shortly after declaring “total control” over Iran’s airspace.

“But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers,” he wrote.

Trump in a subsequent post made clear what he does want from Iran: “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”

The Trump administration has insisted that the U.S. is not directly involved in what Israel called a preemptive strike against Iran on Friday, which kicked off five days of missile fire between the two regional powers.

But Trump’s latest comments suggest the U.S. is now at least willing to threaten direct military intervention as it backs Israel’s effort to bring Tehran to heel.

The U.S. president’s threat against Khamenei came two days after news outlets reported that Trump had vetoed a plan by Israel to assassinate the ayatollah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday downplayed his reported disagreement with Trump over Khamenei, saying, “I wouldn’t rush to conclusions.”

The New York Times reported Monday that Trump is weighing whether to help Israel destroy Iran’s underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, which could only be accomplished with the U.S.′ biggest “bunker buster” bomb.

The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on that report or on other questions about the latest developments in the Israel-Iran conflict.

U.S. stocks slid Tuesday as the geopolitical tensions mounted. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 300 points, or 0.7%, while the S&P 500 declined more than 0.8% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.9%.

Crude oil futures jumped nearly 4.3% to almost $75 per barrel.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, is moving more warships and another aircraft carrier to the Middle East, NBC reported. The U.S. previously deployed military assets to the region to help Israel shoot down Iranian missiles and projectiles, according to NBC.

Trump teed up Tuesday’s threat against Khamenei with an earlier social media post declaring, “We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran.”

Tehran “had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made, conceived, and manufactured ‘stuff,’” Trump wrote.

“Nobody does it better than the good ol’ USA.”