On February 24 local time, U.S. Secretary of State Rubio and CIA Director Ratcliffe were at the White House to deliver a closed-door briefing on the situation in Iran to key members of the bipartisan congressional intelligence committees and bipartisan leadership.The timing of this briefing was particularly sensitive: it took place both before President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address that day and within 48 hours of the start of a new round of U.S.-Iran negotiations in Geneva. According to Washington’s security decision-making conventions, briefings of this level are typically used to inform the highest levels of Congress of critical intelligence and risk assessments regarding potential military operations.Consequently, public opinion widely holds that, regarding Iran, the U.S. has moved from a “strategic deterrence phase” to a “phase of viable options,” implying that military options are no longer merely theoretical but have entered a decision-making phase where they can be activated at any time. (CCTV)