As President Donald Trump huddled with his top advisers in the White House Situation Room on Tuesday, U.S. officers signaled that the subsequent 24 to 48 hours could be important in figuring out whether or not a diplomatic answer with Iran is feasible — or if the president may resort to army motion as an alternative.
Trump considerably ramped up his rhetoric in opposition to the Iranian regime forward of the assembly, asserting that the U.S. knew precisely the place Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was hiding.
“He’s a straightforward goal, however is protected there — We’re not going to take him out (kill!), no less than not for now. However we do not need missiles shot at civilians, or American troopers. Our persistence is sporting skinny,” Trump wrote on social media.
“We now have full and complete management of the skies over Iran,” he claimed in one other submit.
President Donald Trump departs after a household photograph throughout the Group of Seven Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 16, 2025.
Suzanne Plunkett/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
A final probability for diplomacy?
Regardless of the obvious saber rattling, U.S. negotiators on Tuesday continued to evaluate that Iran is in a weak place and might be compelled to return again to the negotiating desk and to in the end settle for a deal that might require it abandon all nuclear enrichment, in keeping with a number of officers concerned within the diplomatic course of.
As Iran and Israel commerce blows, the Iranian regime has signaled a willingness to renew discussions with the U.S., the officers mentioned, including that the Trump administration has been searching for extra concrete commitments earlier than backing off the warfare path.
If Iran returns to the negotiations and agrees to drop its uranium enrichment, U.S. officers consider a high-level assembly led by Particular Envoy Steve Witkoff and probably Vice President JD Vance would occur as quickly as this week.
However that situation doubtless requires Iran to maneuver rapidly. The president has already acknowledged his persistence with the state of affairs within the Center East is sporting skinny.
Sources acquainted with the president’s mindset mentioned he has grown annoyed by a destabilized Iran’s lack of ability to supply the administration with fast solutions and in addition seems extremely disinclined to permit for a state of affairs to unfold the place it seems as if Tehran has efficiently known as his army bluff.
Airmen take a look at a GBU-57, or the Large Ordnance Penetrator bomb, at Whiteman Air Base in Missouri, Might 2, 2023.
U.S. Air Power by way of AP, FILE
A ‘defensive’ US posture — for now
The U.S. army is already sending belongings towards the area, together with sending further plane and a second plane provider and its strike group to the Center East — all strikes which might be defensive in nature, officers say.
“We’re robust, we’re ready, we’re defensive and current,” Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned of the U.S. posture within the Center East throughout an interview with Fox Information on Monday.
However whereas the repositioning of belongings is meant to guard the 40,000 estimated American troops stationed within the area, it additionally leaves choices open for the Trump administration if it decides to immediately help with Israel’s ongoing offensive operation in opposition to Iran.
“It is our position to maintain choices on the desk, however our posture remains to be defensive,” mentioned a U.S. official.
A B-2 Spirit returns to Whiteman Air Power Base, Missouri, from a deployment to Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory, Might 9, 2025.
Senior Airman Devan Halstead/509th Bomb Wing/US Air Power
A serious query is whether or not the U.S. will deploy its B-2 stealth bombers. The heavy strategic bombers are able to carrying the 30,000 pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-buster bombs, which could be capable of destroy Iran’s deep underground nuclear facility on the Fordo Gasoline Enrichment Plant.
At the moment, the army’s fleet of 19 B-2 bombers is positioned at Whiteman Air Power Base in Missouri. Six of the plane had been beforehand deployed to the airbase on the island of Diego Garcia within the Indian Ocean — a lot nearer to Iran. Nonetheless, they had been changed by B-52 long-range bombers which aren’t able to carrying the bunker-buster bombs wanted to destroy the Fordo website.
Already, roughly a dozen U.S. Navy vessels are in Bahrain’s territorial waters away from submit, in keeping with a Protection Division official, who mentioned that the ships shouldn’t have any official tasking. Amongst them are a littoral fight ship, 4 minesweepers, and 6 water patrol craft, the official mentioned.
The Navy additionally has two destroyers within the Purple Sea, an plane provider, and three different floor ships within the Arabian Sea. Two extra American destroyers are within the jap Mediterranean Sea — every outfitted with missile protection programs able to capturing down Iranian ballistic missiles.
A shifting US agenda
Indicators the Trump administration might be inching towards army motion may embody canceling the president’s plans to journey to the Netherlands for a NATO summit subsequent week.
At a press briefing on Tuesday, State Division spokesperson Tammy Bruce mentioned the summit was nonetheless “on the books” — however mentioned the state of affairs may change relying on the dynamic with Iran.
“That is one thing that’s transferring — as issues are likely to — very quickly. So, I’d say that something is feasible,” she mentioned.
Already, the president made an early exit from the G7 summit in Canada, opting to chop his time there quick on Monday with a purpose to monitor the state of affairs within the Center East from the White Home.
