Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS
The White House sought military options for attacking Iran over three mortars that landed in an empty Baghdad lot, the Wall Street Journal reports. The shells, which were reportedly fired by an Iran-linked group in September, did not hurt anyone. But the incident spurred “unusual alarm” in Trump’s White House, where his security honchos held “a series of meetings to discuss a forceful American response,” according to the Journal. The notoriously hawkish John Bolton, who heads Trump’s National Security Council, asked the Pentagon to present the White House military options for carrying out a strike against Iran.“It definitely rattled people,” a onetime senior U.S. administration official told the newspaper. “People were shocked. It was mind-boggling how cavalier they were about hitting Iran.”While Pentagon officials complied with Bolton’s request, it’s not clear whether these proposals ever made it to the White House, or whether Trump was even aware of Bolton’s inquiry. It’s also unclear whether “serious plans” were drawn up for a potential action against Iran, the Journal notes.