After declaring Iran’s military to be “completely defeated” Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump held a meeting to mull new strike options against Iran’s military in the war he says has already been won.
Axios spoke with two sources who told them that the President is meeting with his national security team Wednesday to discuss new strikes against Iran.
Despite posting about the Islamic Republic’s military being completely defeated earlier on Wednesday, the President later said that he will “hit them again hard today.”
“The sources said one option Trump is considering is launching an operation that is big in scale but short in duration, with the aim of pressing Iran to change its position in the negotiations. The sources did not provide specifics,” Axios reported.
Top officials in the meeting at the Situation Room were said to be Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, White House envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (virtually), among other senior officials, according to Axios’s sources.
“If they are not gonna make a deal we are gonna hit them hard,” Hegseth told soldiers while in Florida.
According to another report by Axios, the President is growing frustrated with Iran for not replying to his peace proposal. Note that Iran has replied to numerous peace efforts, but just as those efforts gain some traction Israel steps up their attacks on Lebanon, derailing the peace efforts.
“The trigger for President Trump’s strikes on Iran was the downing of a U.S. helicopter, but behind the scenes Trump had been growing more and more frustrated over nearly two weeks of waiting for an Iranian response to his latest offer that still has not arrived,” they reported Wednesday.
