President Trump gathered his top military and national security advisors in the White House Situation Room on Tuesday to map out a major escalation of the U.S. campaign against Iran, a push he says will not stop until Tehran agrees to a deal that includes abandoning its nuclear ambitions.
Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, White House envoy Steve Witkoff, and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine all joined the president for the closed-door session. The meeting came as U.S. forces completed a seven-hour wave of strikes against dozens of Iranian military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and along Iran's coastline, and as a naval blockade of Iranian ports went into effect Tuesday afternoon, the Daily Mail reported.
The offensive is now in its 137th day. U.S. fighter aircraft, drones, and naval vessels have struck Iranian positions for four consecutive nights around the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which a large share of the world's oil supply passes. Iran, in turn, has fired missiles and launched suicide drones at American bases in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain.
Trump made clear in a Fox News interview Tuesday that the pace would only intensify.
The president laid out a staggered escalation plan during the interview, signaling that energy infrastructure and civilian bridges are on the target list if Iran refuses to negotiate. He told Fox News that U.S. forces would "hit them very hard tonight, very hard tomorrow night," and that the campaign would continue "until I say it's enough."
"We're going to hit them very hard the night after, and then next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants."
Trump said he would save energy targets for last but left no doubt they were coming. Bridges, he added, would also be struck next week unless Iran comes to the table. His message to Tehran was blunt:
"You better make a deal, or you're not going to have anything left."
He compared Iran to "a great boxer" that needed to be put to the mat, and said he had no interest in resuming negotiations right away because, in his words, "they lie." The president also did not rule out the use of U.S. ground forces, particularly in connection with removing Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium.
The conflict had been on pause after the warring sides signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17. But Trump notified Congress that the war would resume after Iran breached that agreement by targeting commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The administration has framed the renewed offensive as a direct response to Iran's violation of a deal it had agreed to honor weeks earlier, a pattern that tracks with Trump's stated view that Tehran cannot be trusted at the negotiating table.
That decision to shift operations back to the White House amid the Iran crisis has defined the administration's posture in recent weeks, with the president centralizing decision-making among his closest advisors.
Late Tuesday night, U.S. Central Command issued an update confirming the scope of the latest round of attacks. CENTCOM stated:
"US fighter aircraft, drones, and naval vessels launched precision munitions against Iranian missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, and coastal defense systems during the seven-hour wave to further degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian crews."
The targets included Iran's air defense networks, radar systems, anti-ship missile batteries, and drone launch pads. CENTCOM also confirmed that U.S. forces had resumed the naval blockade against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas.
Overnight, strikes hit a military base in Bampur, a city in southeastern Iran. Iran's army said at least seven personnel were killed in that attack. The source did not specify whether those killed were soldiers or other military staff.
On Sunday, three U.S. sea drones struck a submarine and ship maintenance facility near the Strait of Hormuz, a milestone the Daily Mail described as the first time Washington deployed sea drones in combat operations. The use of unmanned naval systems signals a broadening of the American toolkit in a campaign that has so far relied heavily on manned aircraft and conventional naval assets.
The security environment around the president has tightened considerably as the conflict has escalated, with agencies taking heightened precautions tied directly to Iranian threats.
Tehran has not absorbed the strikes passively. Iran launched missiles and suicide drones at American military installations in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain, three countries that host significant U.S. troop presences. The source did not provide casualty figures from those retaliatory attacks or specify whether any of the Iranian strikes reached their targets.
Trump acknowledged that Iran remains a capable adversary, even under sustained bombardment. He told Fox News that "you think you have them beat, then they'll come back and give you a shot." That assessment, candid for a wartime commander-in-chief, suggests the administration expects the campaign to be protracted and costly, not a quick series of strikes followed by capitulation.
The broader threat from Iran extends beyond the battlefield. U.S. authorities have previously investigated alleged Iranian-backed plots targeting members of the Trump family, a reminder that Tehran's response to American pressure has historically included asymmetric and personal threats.
Several key details remain unclear. The specific incidents that constituted Iran's breach of the June 17 memorandum of understanding have not been publicly detailed beyond the general claim that Tehran targeted commercial ships. The terms of the agreement itself have not been released. And while Trump has publicly warned of strikes on power plants, bridges, and eventually energy infrastructure, the administration has not laid out what a final deal with Iran would look like beyond the demand that Tehran abandon its nuclear program.
Whether formal negotiations between the two sides are ongoing, paused, or dead is also unresolved. Trump said he was not interested in "continuing negotiations immediately," but the prior existence of the memorandum of understanding shows that some diplomatic channel was functioning as recently as last month.
The diplomatic dimensions of the conflict have drawn attention from international figures, adding another layer of pressure to an already volatile situation.
An image caption in the Daily Mail's coverage referred to Iran's Ali Khamenei as the "late Supreme Leader," suggesting he is deceased, though the article provided no further details on the circumstances or timing.
The presence of every senior national security official in the Situation Room, the vice president, the secretaries of state and defense, the CIA director, the Joint Chiefs chairman, and the president's personal envoy, underscores the weight the administration is placing on the next phase. This was not a briefing. It was a planning session for a campaign Trump has publicly promised will grow more destructive by the day.
Trump's escalation ladder is deliberate and public. Military targets first. Coastal defenses second. Power plants and bridges next week. Energy last. He has told Iran exactly what is coming and in what order. The only off-ramp he has offered is a deal, one that includes giving up the nuclear program Tehran has spent decades building.
Iran broke the ceasefire, attacked commercial shipping, and launched strikes at American troops in three countries. A president who responds to that with a clear plan, a full war council, and a public ultimatum is doing what the job requires, and daring Tehran to keep testing him.