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President Trump recently considered a return to full-scale war with Iran, meeting with top defense officials to weigh renewed strikes before deciding to stick with diplomacy for now.
Getting into it: First reported by the Wall Street Journal, Trump held multiple conversations with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine about whether to abandon negotiations and resume full-scale attacks, an option some officials described as “finishing the job.” Ultimately, the president concluded that going back to all-out war would likely sink the diplomatic track and set back US efforts to strip Iran of its nuclear program, though the report said he hasn’t fully ruled out a return to fighting.
Trump told aides he’s fine with talks dragging past an August 18 deadline for a final nuclear deal, and would respond to any Iranian violations with one-off strikes rather than a broader campaign.
This all comes against the backdrop of a 14-point interim agreement the US and Iran signed on June 17, which handed both sides a 60-day window to hammer out a lasting ceasefire and sort through the hard shit (like what happens to Iran’s nuclear program). Under the current deal, Iran agreed to allow ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz (the waterway that carried a fifth of the world’s oil and gas before the war) in return for financial relief.
Publicly, Trump insists that Iran is “agreeing to everything that I want, and they have to…Otherwise, we just go back and do what we have to do.”
Vice President JD Vance echoed that the US is negotiating from a position of strength while keeping military options in reserve. “If they’re willing to change, we’re willing to change too; if they’re not willing to change, we still fundamentally have all the cards,” he said, adding that if Iran gives up its nuclear ambitions long-term, the US is “willing to fundamentally transform our relationship with that country.” Still, not everyone in the administration sounded optimistic. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that “Iran has not been cooperative at all, yet.”
Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, struck a dual tone, saying Tehran is prioritizing diplomacy but is “prepared for war” if talks fail, and touting that Iran has exported more than 40 million barrels of oil since the blockade on its ports was lifted.
