Report: Trump Considered Returning to War, but Held Off for Now

President Donald Trump has in recent days considered renewing the war against Iran. That was reported overnight (between Tuesday and Wednesday) by The Wall Street Journal. According to the report, the president held consultations with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine.

The talks at the White House and the Pentagon focused on whether the United States should end the negotiations and resume full-scale strikes against Iran. An American official told the newspaper that President Trump has still not made a final decision, but believes that another round of broad strikes could disrupt diplomacy and hurt the chances of dismantling Iran’s nuclear program.

According to that same official, Trump said there is no obstacle to negotiations with Tehran continuing beyond the August 18 deadline. At the same time, the president did not rule out limited strikes against Iran if it violates the memorandum of understanding.

As a reminder, at the start of the week, after two days of strikes in southern Iran, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: "Iran violated the ceasefire agreement, again! They may never learn! A stage may come when we can no longer be reasonable and will be forced to finish militarily the job we began with great success. If that happens - the Islamic Republic of Iran will cease to exist!".