The US military has prepared options for renewed attacks on Iran, according to a Washington-based political news website, a development that raises the possibility of another major round of fighting in a conflict nearing its eighth month. The website said Central Command, the US military headquarters that oversees forces in the Middle East, has follow-up strikes ready should the White House give the authorisation. It also said military planners had put together several options for Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The reporting centres on possible action after the US midterm elections on November 3. On Saturday, President Donald Trump said the United States could strike as soon as “tomorrow”, while also raising the prospect of a “big, beautiful” agreement with Tehran. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, for his part, accused Washington of derailing talks but said efforts to reach an agreement should carry on.
Pentagon planning and the decision that remains with Trump
The latest reporting indicates that military preparations are moving forward, but it is still unclear which options Trump might approve or when. Earlier this month, Axios reported that the Pentagon had told CENTCOM to finish preparing for a possible resumption of major combat operations. Its sources said a renewed campaign could hit Iranian energy facilities, infrastructure and nuclear sites.
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Those preparations do not amount to an order to attack. The final call rests with Trump, whose public remarks have kept open both the option of military action and the option of negotiations. On Friday, at a rally, he said Washington “may do another little Epic Fury”, referring to the codename of the US-Israeli military operation against Iran that began on February 28. On Saturday he would not say when any attack might happen, but suggested it could come as early as Sunday.
On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that the United States and Israel had drawn up joint plans for an attack on Iran following the midterms. Those reports came alongside US warnings about alleged Iranian threats against American personnel overseas. An intelligence memo sent on Friday by Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran had “substantially increased efforts to target US personnel”. The memo said lethal plots had reached “advanced stages” in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Warnings over threats, shipping and Iran’s military doctrine
The State Department has ordered staffing cuts at several regional embassies in light of the warnings. The memo that was made public did not name specific targets or say when any alleged attacks might take place. The US is also sending a third aircraft carrier strike group, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, together with roughly 10,000 additional soldiers and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, to the Middle East by the end of November.
Tehran has paired calls for more negotiations with a warning that any renewed US attacks would draw a wider response. Pezeshkian said in remarks broadcast on Saturday that Americans had “messed everything up” in the talks, before adding that efforts to conclude an agreement should continue. Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, will also miss the 12th BRICS Parliamentary Forum in New Delhi, the Iranian Embassy in India said, citing “unforeseen circumstances” without giving further detail.
On Sunday, Iran’s army said it had shot down a US-developed LUCAS drone over the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, according to a semi-official Iranian news agency. A separate news agency, citing Iranian security officials, reported that Tehran had drawn up plans to target undersea communications cables in the Gulf if US and Israeli attacks resume. Iran has also claimed that seven oil tankers caught fire or were damaged in and around the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week.
On Wednesday, Iran also said it was shifting towards an “offensive” military doctrine and warned that countries hosting bases used in US attacks could become targets. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman Hossein Mohebi said the doctrine had previously been defensive. Under the new approach, he said, Iran would both respond to an attack and launch its own offensive.
Expert views on escalation and the political stakes
Julie Norman, an associate fellow at Chatham House, told an interviewer that the preparations served both as short-term signalling and as a possible longer-term military goal after next month’s vote. “With Trump, I think he is always keeping options on the table, but I think this particular drawing up of plans is an immediate posturing deterrent, but also a very real option after the midterms,” she said. She added that Iran was also drawing up its own target lists, covering energy infrastructure and US-aligned states.
Norman warned that both sides were ready for another escalation. “In the meantime, there is a very high risk of miscalculation by either side, a very high risk of rapid escalation,” she said. According to figures cited in the reporting, October has become the worst month for attacks on ships since the war began in February, with more than 120 attacks reported so far.
The timing is politically sensitive. Trump is under pressure to avoid renewed escalation before the midterms, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing for an attack as his support drops in the polls ahead of Tuesday’s election. Netanyahu has also said that overthrowing Iran’s government remains Israel’s “primary objective”.
Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in Qatar, said recent events pointed towards renewed fighting rather than a diplomatic breakthrough. He cited Hegseth’s recent visit to Israel and Washington’s reported withdrawal of personnel from some regional diplomatic and military sites. “One of the fears is this next round of fighting could actually be more dangerous, more catastrophic than the previous round,” he said.
Norman said Trump’s military advisers were likely to ask what another round of escalation could achieve that earlier rounds did not. “What would these strategies do to force Iran to the negotiating table? And I don’t think there has been a clear answer to that,” she said.
