{"id":121894,"date":"2026-05-19T20:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T20:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/121894\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T20:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T20:19:08","slug":"trump-edges-toward-new-strikes-on-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/121894\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump edges toward new strikes on Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration is considering a military escalation to break the diplomatic impasse with Iran<\/a>, despite having formally notified Congress that Operation Epic Fury has been terminated. <\/p>\n

Adm. Brad Cooper<\/a>, the chief of U.S. Central Command, said on Tuesday that American forces in the Middle East remain deeply entrenched in the region and are at the highest level of readiness. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am prepared to execute a broad range of contingencies,\u201d Cooper testified before the House Armed Services Committee. \u201cWe\u2019re prepared for further direction depending on how negotiations go.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Cooper told lawmakers that CENTCOM will maintain its blockade<\/a> on all vessels entering of leaving Iranian ports \u2014 a posture that has led the military to redirect a reported 88 commercial vessels since it went into effect on April 13. <\/p>\n

The United States said it had also disabled four boats \u201cto ensure total compliance.\u201d <\/p>\n

Washington and Tehran are deadlocked over how to resolve their nearly three-month conflict, with no discernible path toward a peace deal. The talks have foundered over the specifics of Iran\u2019s nuclear program and access to the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed since the beginning of the war. In ordinary conditions, the strait accounts for roughly one-fifth of global oil supply. <\/p>\n

President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed he had been \u201can hour away\u201d from authorizing a major strike on the Islamic Republic but ultimately backed off after the leaders of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia urged him to postpone the attack in favor of continued dialogue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ships were all loaded \u2014 loaded to the brim \u2014 and we were all set to start,” the president told reporters at the White House. Such a move would have ended the fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope we don\u2019t have to do the war, but we may have to give them another big hit,\u201d he continued. \u201cI\u2019m not sure yet, you\u2019ll never very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said that Iran has \u201ctwo or three days, maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday, something, maybe early next week \u2013 a limited period of time,” to come to the table. <\/p>\n

Vice President JD Vance, who led the White House press briefing on Tuesday, stressed that it \u201ctakes two to tango.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an opportunity here, I think, to reset the relationship that has existed between Iran and the United States for 47 years,\u201d Vance said. \u201cSo, as the president just told me, we are locked and loaded. We don\u2019t want to go down that pathway, but the president is willing and able to go down that pathway if we have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Islamic Republic\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister, in response to Trump\u2019s threats, asserted that Iran is primed to confront any military aggression. <\/p>\n

\u201cIran, united and resolutely, is prepared to confront any military aggression,\u201d Kazem Gharibabadi wrote in a post on X.<\/a> \u201cFor us, surrender holds no meaning; we either triumph or become martyrs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tanya Noury is a reporter for Military Times and Defense News, with coverage focusing on the White House and Pentagon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Trump administration is considering a military escalation to break the diplomatic impasse with Iran, despite having formally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[17078,141,2539,2932,2933,1529,1528,38,31817,34,196,49,2540,212,101],"class_list":["post-121894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-adm-brad-cooper","tag-centcom","tag-circulated-air-force-times","tag-circulated-army-times","tag-circulated-marine-corps-times","tag-circulated-military-times","tag-circulated-navy-times","tag-donald-trump","tag-house-armed-services-committee","tag-iran","tag-iran-war","tag-middle-east","tag-military-times","tag-operation-epic-fury","tag-strait-of-hormuz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116603097157911714","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}