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US President Donald Trump/ EPA Yonhap

U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly weighing the risks of a potential military strike against Iran, amid mounting concerns from U.S. intelligence agencies that such an action could prompt Tehran to accelerate its nuclear weapons program.

According to a June 19 statement from the White House, a decision on whether to launch a strike will come “within the next two weeks,” indicating that Trump has yet to make up his mind. Analysts suggest the delay stems from apprehension about the potentially severe consequences of military intervention.

The New York Times reported that senior American intelligence officials have warned that if the U.S. military were to target Iran’s underground uranium enrichment site in Fordow — or if Israel were to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — Iran's leadership might shift decisively toward producing a nuclear bomb.

Although Iran has amassed enough enriched uranium to build nuclear weapons, U.S. intelligence assessments as of March indicate that Tehran had not yet made the political decision to do so — and that judgment remained unchanged even after recent Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, the Times noted.

In a separate article, the New York Times also suggested that the Israeli airstrikes could be interpreted by Iran's leadership and nuclear scientists as a signal to “move faster and more secretly” in developing nuclear weapons. The article drew parallels with North Korea’s path to nuclearization, which progressed despite years of U.S. diplomatic efforts and sabotage attempts, eventually resulting in Pyongyang’s possession of more than 60 nuclear warheads.

Military experts say the most likely weapon for an attack on Iran’s deeply buried Fordow facility would be the GBU-57 “bunker buster” bomb. However, the weapon has never been used in combat.

The Guardian reported that President Trump has told Pentagon officials he would only authorize the strike if there were assurances that the GBU-57 could successfully destroy the Fordow site. Citing unnamed sources, the report noted that Trump remains unconvinced about the viability of a military strike on Iran.

Observers believe Trump’s hesitation reflects more than just concerns over the operational success of a strike. Strategic analysts argue that a U.S.-led or U.S.-backed airstrike could trigger a regional war and push Iran over the nuclear threshold — a risk that appears to weigh heavily in the president’s decision-making process.