Iranupdated 2h ago3 min read
Pentagon Orders U.S. Central Command To Prepare Wide Strikes On Iran As Trump Weighs Timing
Pentagon instructed CENTCOM to complete preparations for resuming wide-scale operations against Iran. No fixed launch date; Trump has not made final decision on strikes.
Pentagon readies Iran options
The Pentagon issued guidelines to U.S. Central Command to complete preparations to resume broad military operations in Iran, while President Donald Trump had not made any final decisions.
“The department’s mission is to prepare military options and present them to the president.”
American officials told Axios that the directives did not specify a fixed date for launching the strikes, and Israeli officials said the discussion at Camp David included the possibility of resuming broad military operations in Iran.
A Pentagon official told Axios, “The department’s mission is to prepare military options and present them to the president.”
A White House official told Axios that “all options are available to Trump at any time,” and the official said the United States had control of the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran’s economy had collapsed.
The sources described potential operations as intensified bombing of Iranian targets in the energy and infrastructure sectors and nuclear facilities, with one report saying the timing could be before the U.S. midterm elections and perhaps before an Israeli election scheduled a week earlier.
Timing, elections, and talks
The planning followed a meeting of Trump’s national security team at Camp David on Friday for several hours, where an Israeli official said part of the discussion focused on the possibility of resuming broad military operations in Iran.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after the meeting that the discussion focused on long-term foreign policy planning, while negotiations between the United States and Iran yielded no progress.
An Israeli official told Axios that the chances of resuming broad military operations before the elections were not high but “we do not rule it out,” and the official said the likelihood rises significantly after the midterm elections.
The reports also tied the military timeline to politics, with one account saying resuming the war in the next three or four weeks could affect the midterm elections because oil prices could rise.
A second Israeli official said the Iranian regime was in a state of despair and paranoia, and the official said Iran had faced two surprise attacks and did not want to risk a third experience.
What could follow
The reports said any resumption of wide-scale military operations could include intensive bombardment of Iran’s energy and infrastructure facilities as well as nuclear sites, with the Pentagon’s mission described as developing and presenting options to the president. A White House official said the United States was “in a very strong position” with control of the Strait of Hormuz and the deterioration of the Iranian economy, and the official said, “things will go in one of two directions: the easy way or the hard way.” The accounts also said Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone on Wednesday, their second contact within days after weeks of limited communication, and an American official said the call involved “remembering and honoring the victims of the October 7 attack.”
One report said renewed escalation, or even a rise in tensions or declaring a state of emergency, could politically benefit Netanyahu, and another said Iran would likely respond with hundreds of ballistic missiles fired at Israel. The sources further linked the next phase to stalled diplomacy, with Qatari mediators awaiting an Iranian response to a U.S. counterproposal that demanded concessions on the nuclear issue.