The request by the National Security Council, which is led by John Bolton, sparked deep concern among Pentagon and State Department officials, the newspaper reported, citing current and former US officials. The Pentagon complied with the request, but it is not known whether the options for an Iran strike were also provided to the White House or if President Donald Trump knew about it. The decision to seek options striking Iran was prompted by an incident in September in which three mortars were fired into a diplomatic quarter in Baghdad, the newspaper said.
The shells landed in an open lot and no one was hurt.
Two days later, unidentified militants fired three rockets that hit close to the US consulate in the southern city of Basra but caused no serious damage.
The State Department did not comment on the report.
The Pentagon said it provides the president options for a variety of threats.
NSC spokesman Garrett Marquis, said the NSC does the same and it will continue to consider “the full range of options” after the attacks.
Tensions between the US and Iran have risen significantly ever since Donald Trump’s election as President.
Mr Trump earlier last year announced his decision to pull his country out of the Joint Plan of Comprehensive Action (JPCOA) agreement aimed at preventing Iran developing nuclear weapons.
His Iranian opposite number Hassan Rouhani responded by suggesting a war between the two countries would be “the mother of all conflicts”, prompting Mr Trump to fire off a furious tweet in capital letters.
In it, he said: ”To Iranian President Rouhani: never, ever, threatens the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before.
“We are no longer a country that will stand for your demented words of violence & death. Be cautious.”
Tehran is also believed to be unhappy at comments made by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in which he branded Mr Rouhani’s regime a “mafia”.
He also appeared to encourage anti-Government demonstrations within the Islamic republic.
Branding the county’s religious leaders “hypocritical holy men”, he referred to recent public pro-demoracy protests.
He added: “Sometimes it seems the world has become desensitised to the regime’s authoritarianism at home and its campaigns of violence abroad, but the proud Iranian people are not staying silent about their government’s many abuses.”
Tensions were ratcheted up still further after Houthi forces in Yemen, believed to have links with the Iranian regime, launched a rocket attack on two Saudi Arabian oil tankers.
The decision prompted the Saudis to halt convoys passing through the Bab el-Mandeb strait — which connects the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea.