Pentagon drafts three-day Iran strike plan, but Trump has already said no to five others
Trump says any US strike will wait until after the November 3 election, even as the Pentagon prepares its most detailed Iran war plan yet.
Published
The Pentagon has drawn up plans for a three-day campaign of strikes against Iran, aimed at its missile and drone arsenal, energy facilities and Revolutionary Guard headquarters. Trump has rejected five earlier proposals for major action against Iran or the Houthis.
Trump said this week that the United States will not strike Iran before the November 3 election, reversing a position he had taken only a day earlier. He has also said a blockade on Iran will stay in full force while Washington and Tehran remain apart on terms for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
The reversal fits a pattern. Axios journalist Barak Ravid has recalled that Trump had already decided to strike Iran's nuclear sites last year before publicly denying it. Iran's atomic energy chief has ruled out concessions on uranium enrichment, after Trump said he no longer wants to pursue a deal with Tehran. Separately, Yemen's Houthis claimed a ballistic missile strike on Riyadh's King Khalid Airport, which the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted.
The new plan goes further than the contingency options the Pentagon was reported to be preparing last week, but it does not change the operational picture on its own. Trump has rejected five prior proposals for major action, consistent with his latest signal that no strikes will come before the midterms. That gap between Pentagon preparation and an actual presidential order is what has defined this cycle since September, and it is the variable that would move crude oil and the broader risk premium if it closes.