After Situation Room Meeting, Trump Weighs Broad Strike on Iran

U.S. President Donald Trump convened a Situation Room meeting at the White House on Wednesday evening to discuss the possibility of additional American strikes against Iran. The meeting came just hours after Trump told reporters that the United States would “hit Iran again hard today.”

Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, White House envoy Steve Witkoff, and other senior officials took part. War Secretary Pete Hegseth participated in the meeting from U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida.

American officials said one option under consideration by the president is a broad but short-lived operation designed to increase pressure on Tehran and push it to change its position in negotiations with Washington. Hegseth said the blow the regime in Tehran is expected to absorb will be especially severe. “We are going to hit Iran hard tonight. Iran is going to take bombs on key facilities, not to reopen the war, but to set the terms for a deal.”

Against the backdrop of the meeting, mediators from Qatar held talks today with senior Iranian officials in Tehran, in an effort to revive the contacts surrounding the agreement that the U.S. and Iran have been discussing in recent weeks. According to the officials, if no breakthrough is reached, additional American strikes could be launched within a short time.

Yesterday, the United States struck Iranian radar sites and air defense systems in response to the downing of an American helicopter. The strikes were planned to cause minimal casualties in order to keep the channel open for continued negotiations between the sides.

Earlier this evening, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, hinted at a significant expected attack against Iran. “Things may get a little ‘spicy’ in the neighborhood soon,” Huckabee wrote on X.

Iranian President Pezeshkian responded, writing: “Threats to hit infrastructure are not a show of strength, but a sign of despair. Iran will stand firm against any pressure or threat.”