US May Launch Strike If NK Reaches For Nuclear Trigger.
Senior intelligence officials told NBC News that the United States is “prepared” to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea if it believes the country is going to conduct a nuclear test, according to a report published Thursday evening. North Korea has recently signalled that it was prepared to test its nuclear capabilities for the sixth time. Any preemptive strike on the United States’ part would use conventional weapons, rather than nuclear, the officials said.
In the report, NBC News notes that the embattled dictatorship has warned that a “big event” would be coming soon and that officials believe a test may be run as soon as this weekend. Officials say that two destroyers are within range of North Korea to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles.
There has, however, been significant pushback against the story, according to several other outlets.
The report comes just a week after President Trump launched an attack on Syrian airfields following President Bashar al-Assad’s apparent use of chemical weapons. And earlier on Thursday, U.S. Central Command reported that it has used its largest non-nuclear weapon in a strike against ISIS in Afghanistan.
