Scoop — Trump's Iran plans

The Trump administration told several Middle Eastern allies that it doesn't plan to get actively involved in the war between Israel and Iran unless Iran targets Americans, Axios' Barak Ravid scoops.

• Israel has asked the Trump administration to join the war in order to eliminate Iran's nuclear program. A U.S. official told Axios on Saturday that the Trump administration was not actively considering it.

🪖 Between the lines: President Trump demurred Monday when asked whether the U.S. could join the war. But while the U.S. is stating in public and in private that it's not getting involved, the U.S. military is taking steps to prepare for such a contingency.

• Aircraft carriers and strategic refueling planes are moving to the region.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a press conference on Monday that he speaks to Trump almost every day.

📺 State of play: Iranian state television was broadcasting live on Monday when an Israeli strike rocked the studio, with the anchor fleeing her desk amid smoke and falling rubble. The broadcast then went dark.

• The strike signaled a broadening of Israel's bombing campaign.
• The Israeli military had claimed it was only striking targets connected to Iran's nuclear and missile programs. But Israel has now issued several evacuation orders for civilians in Tehran, in areas where hundreds of thousands of people live.
• See the video