US President Donald Trump’s administration is weighing new military options against Iran after Tehran refused to accept key US demands and declined to make sweeping concessions on its nuclear program, Axios reported, citing US officials.
According to the report, Trump reviewed possible next steps on Iran with his national security team after negotiations again reached an impasse. Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and other senior officials attended the meeting.
Axios reported that one option under consideration was restarting “Project Freedom,” an operation suspended last week that involved escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
Another option discussed, according to the report, was launching strikes on 25% of the targets previously identified by the US military but not yet attacked.
“I think we all understand where this is going,” one US official said.
Israeli officials, meanwhile, told Axios that the White House had been asked to approve a special forces operation aimed at securing Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium. However, the same officials said Trump remained hesitant because the operation carried extremely high risks.
According to the report, Washington waited 10 days for Iran’s response to a ceasefire proposal. The reply ultimately failed to satisfy the Trump administration.
Trump said Iran had previously indicated it was willing to hand over its enriched uranium stockpiles, but the latest response made no mention of the issue. The US president said Tehran therefore appeared to have changed its position.
Trump declared a two-week ceasefire on April 8 and later extended it indefinitely. Speaking a day earlier, the president said the ceasefire was now “on life support.”
Trump also said the two sides had come close to reaching an agreement “four or five times,” but that Tehran “changed its mind” each time.
The US president said he considered Iran’s latest proposal “ridiculous” and did not read the document to the end. “I have a very simple plan: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Sources cited by Axios said they did not expect Trump to authorize military action against Iran before returning from his visit to China.
According to the report, Trump is expected to discuss the war in Iran with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Axios said Beijing had urged Tehran to reach an agreement with Washington to end the conflict and limit its nuclear program, but no results had yet been achieved.
CNN also reported that Trump was seriously considering resuming military operations against Iran.
According to the broadcaster, Trump has grown “impatient” because the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and divisions within Iran’s leadership are making it harder for Tehran to offer concessions in nuclear negotiations.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei, however, said Tehran had not requested any concessions from Washington.
Baghaei said Iran was seeking only an end to the war and a halt to what he described as “piracy activities” targeting Iranian ships. The spokesman also said the US administration continued to insist on “unilateral approaches and baseless demands.”