Pentagon Draws Up New Iran Strike Plans as Trump Hesitates

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The U.S. military has drafted options for three days of strikes, but in recent months the president has repeatedly vetoed plans to restart the war.

The U.S. military is preparing options to restart major combat operations against Iran, even as President Trump continues to show ambivalence about restarting the war, according to American officials.

Three aircraft carriers will soon be in the Middle East, a massive assembly of force, and the Pentagon, on Mr. Trump’s orders, has developed plans to strike Iran’s drone and missile arsenal, energy facilities and other military sites.

But Mr. Trump has repeatedly decided not to relaunch heavy combat operations against Iran. And the U.S. military response to Iran has been more muted in recent weeks, despite Iran’s escalating attacks on oil tankers.

In a social media post on Thursday, Mr. Trump said that he would not attack Iran before the midterm elections, and that the two countries were “having productive discussions.”

In recent months, officials said, Mr. Trump’s national security team and the Pentagon have made five proposals to him for major operations against either Iran or the Houthis, an Iranian-backed militia based in Yemen. Each time, Mr. Trump vetoed the plans.

But Mr. Trump has once more ordered up strike options. Senior national security officials, led by Vice President JD Vance, discussed plans at a meeting last Friday at Camp David. The plans center on a short, intense campaign lasting about three days, according to people briefed on the proposal.