Trump Weighs Resuming Iran War as National Security Team Meets

President Donald Trump has convened his national security team to decide whether the U.S. should resume major military operations against Iran. He told reporters in the Oval Office that Washington would make a decision shortly.

Senior U.S. officials told Fox News that the talks took place at the White House on Wednesday and Thursday. No order to resume major operations has been publicly issued.

Axios cited two U.S. officials as saying the Thursday session formed part of Trump’s weekly intelligence briefing. They said it was his first discussion of Iran with top advisers since the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

‘Rather Not Destroy the Rest’

Trump framed the choice around the future of Tehran’s nuclear capabilities. “Do we want to go further” with strikes, he asked, to ensure Iran’s nuclear program is dead and that “it will never happen again?”

He left escalation explicitly open. “I would rather not destroy the rest of the country if possible, but maybe I will have to. You’ll know soon enough,” Trump said.

In the same session, he said the U.S. was “very much locked and loaded” should it need to complete “the rest of the Iran thing.”

Trump also said, according to Axios and Fox News, that Tehran now acts only with Washington’s approval and that the U.S. controls everything it set out to control. He said Iran could need 25 years to rebuild and described the U.S. presence as close to an occupation.

He questioned whether the conflict still counts as a war, pointing to an absence of recent U.S. casualties.

Three Options

Officials told Axios that the president faces three paths. The first is a new round of strikes.

The second is sustained economic pressure through sanctions and the naval blockade of Iranian ports. The third is an agreement involving significant concessions to Tehran.

Earlier Axios reporting described divided advisers. Vice President JD Vance and envoy Steve Witkoff were said to back a deal.

A second camp, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reportedly favors completing the campaign militarily. A third group, comprising Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was said to prefer continued economic pressure without immediate escalation or a deal.

Trump had recently said he was in no hurry to decide.

CENTCOM Readies, Awaits Orders

U.S. Central Command is finalizing preparations for a potential resumption of major combat in Iran, one U.S. official told Axios. The command has not received a new directive from Washington, the official said.

The planning follows an Oct. 29 White House session in which CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper, alongside Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, briefed Trump on strike options. Military preparations for a possible strike have surfaced in earlier reporting.

One potential indicator of renewed strikes would be the arrival of a third U.S. Navy carrier strike group in the Middle East.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) strike group is due to begin a port call in Singapore on Friday. It is not expected to reach CENTCOM’s area of responsibility before mid-November, where it would join the USS George H.W. Bush and USS George Washington.

The Nov. 9 New Moon

Officials told Fox News that Nov. 9 brings a new moon over the Middle East, leaving little to no moonlight. They described the condition as favorable for military operations.

The new moon falls at about 07:02 UTC that day. No strike date has been announced.

Baghdad Seeks Distance

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi spoke with Trump by phone on Thursday. Al-Zaidi succeeded Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in May 2026.

His media office said he reaffirmed Iraq’s call for respect for state sovereignty. He stated that Iraqi territory must not serve as a launchpad for aggression against neighboring countries and stressed diplomacy and dialogue, according to Al Jazeera.

A Parallel Diplomatic Track

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held calls on the same day with mediators from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, the UAE, Oman and Egypt, Axios reported.

Qatari mediators discussed a draft two-day sequence of confidence-building steps. On day one, the U.S. would lift the naval blockade and release some frozen Iranian funds, while Iran would formally invite IAEA inspectors to previously bombed nuclear sites.

On day two, the Strait of Hormuz would reopen. Nuclear talks focused on stockpiles of highly enriched uranium would follow.

In Moscow, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, met Russian President Vladimir Putin and delivered a message from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

Rezaei said Iran would neither reopen Hormuz nor negotiate until the U.S. met seven conditions. These broadly cover sanctions relief, the release of frozen assets, war reparations, an end to hostilities and the blockade, a reduced U.S. regional presence, a permanent end to the war and related guarantees.

Putin signaled readiness to help mediate.

From Epic Fury to Qeshm

The war began around Feb. 28, 2026, when the U.S. and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury. Major strikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets gave way to more limited action, a naval blockade and Iranian efforts to restrict or disrupt traffic through Hormuz.

On Nov. 2, U.S. forces carried out limited “defensive” strikes on Qeshm Island after IRGC fire at a U.S. aircraft. Officials said those strikes did not mark the start of a major new campaign.

The midterms were widely viewed as an inflection point for the conflict. Trump has yet to say which way he will move.