Trump Said to Be Considering US Strike on Iran

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will meet with his national security team in the White House Situation Room on Tuesday to consider whether to join Israel’s effort to permanently dismantle Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities.

Trump returned early from the G7 summit in Canada to focus on the escalating war between Israel and Iran.

As he flew back to Washington in the early morning hours Tuesday, he told reporters on Air Force One that he wasn’t interested in a “ceasefire” but a “real end” to the war and Iran’s nuclear program.

Axios broke the story citing unnamed U.S. officials who said the president is seriously considering launching a U.S. strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, including its underground uranium enrichment facility in Fordow.

Israeli officials later told Axios that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes the U.S. is likely to strike the underground enrichment facilities in coming days.

If it does, it will be a significant change in U.S. policy. To date, the U.S. has helped Israel defend itself against missile attacks from Iran, but it has not engaged in any offensive operations.

In a series of posts on Truth Social ahead of Tuesday afternoon’s gathering in the Situation Room, Trump sounded increasingly ready to make a move.

“We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” he said in the first of the posts. “Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made, conceived, and manufactured ‘stuff.’ Nobody does it better than the good ol’ USA.”

A short time later, the president posted: “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.

“But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin,” he said, adding in a third post, “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”

What they’re saying: Amid growing signs that the U.S. could strike Iran, Vice President J.D. Vance pushed back against criticism from prominent MAGA voices about Trump getting involved in the war.

“The president has shown remarkable restraint in keeping our military’s focus on protecting our troops and protecting our citizens,” Vance wrote in a lengthy X post stressing Trump’s consistency on the Iran nuclear issue.

“He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment.”

Trump himself signaled his thinking in a series of belligerent posts on Truth Social ahead of the Situation Room meeting.

“We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran. Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made,” Trump wrote.

A few minutes later he warned Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei against targeting U.S. forces in the Middle East. “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin,” Trump wrote.

In a third post in less than an hour Trump wrote: “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER”

Some of those expressing concerns are a number of MAGA Republicans. Among them on Tuesday was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who took to X to say Americans want a lot of things, including “cheap gas, groceries, bills, and housing …. Affordable insurance, safe communities and good education for their children.

“Considering Americans pay for the entire government and government salaries with their hard earned tax dollars, this is where our focus should be,” she said. “Not going into another foreign war.”

But such concerns got a firm rebuttal from Vice President JD Vance, who responded at length in his own social media post.

“First, POTUS has been amazingly consistent, over 10 years, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Vance wrote.

“Over the last few months, he encouraged his foreign policy team to reach a deal with the Iranians to accomplish this goal. The president has made clear that Iran cannot have uranium enrichment. And he said repeatedly that this would happen one of two ways —the easy way or the ‘other’ way,” he continued.

“Second, I’ve seen a lot of confusion over the issue of ‘civilian nuclear power’ and ‘uranium enrichment,’” Vance wrote. “These are distinct issues. Iran could have civilian nuclear power without enrichment, but Iran rejected that. Meanwhile, they’ve enriched uranium far above the level necessary for any civilian purpose. They’ve been found in violation of their non-proliferation obligations by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is hardly a rightwing organization.

“It’s one thing to want civilian nuclear energy. It’s another thing to demand sophisticated enrichment capacity. And it’s still another to cling to enrichment while simultaneously violating basic non-proliferation obligations and enriching right to the point of weapons-grade uranium,” the vice president said.

He concluded by saying he believes the president “has shown remarkable restraint in keeping our military’s focus on protecting our troops and protecting our citizens.”

“He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment,” Vance said. “That decision ultimately belongs to the president. And of course, people are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy.

“But I believe the president has earned some trust on this issue. And having seen this up close and personal, I can assure you that he is only interested in using the American military to accomplish the American people’s goals. Whatever he does, that is his focus,” the vice president concluded.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and on X @DanMcCue