President Trump is nearing a decisive fork in the Iran war, with U.S. and Israeli officials envisioning only two viable endgames:Option 1: Pursue a new 10-day ceasefire aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz.Option 2: Launch a massive joint military campaign with Israel to force Tehran's capitulation.Why it matters: Trump hasn't made a decision yet. But officials believe the next few days will determine which path prevails — with little room left for the grinding, open-ended conflict now paralyzing the Gulf.Driving the news: Qatar, Egypt, Pakistan and other regional mediators have presented the U.S.
and Iran with a proposal for a 10-day ceasefire, two regional sources with direct knowledge of the effort told Axios.The Trump administration is exploring the proposal and has urged Israel to avoid steps that could close the diplomatic window, U.S. officials said.But Washington is simultaneously preparing for the talks to fail. military has sent dozens of fighter jets and refueling aircraft to the region in recent days, assembling the forces needed for a major escalation.Israeli sources said the IDF is on high alert and preparing for a possible expansion of the war into a full-scale, coordinated campaign within days.The big picture: Ten straight nights of U.S.
bombing have failed to break Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz, dragging Trump deeper into a war he has repeatedly declared won.At least three U.S. service members have been killed in the renewed fighting. Trump said Monday he had ordered the Pentagon to make Iran pay "many times over" for every American death.Oil briefly broke $90 a barrel this weekend as Iran widened its strikes on commercial ships and Gulf infrastructure.
Gas prices are rising again, compounding the domestic backlash to an already unpopular war.Zoom in: Regional mediators are once again racing to interrupt a cycle of retaliation that grows deadlier, costlier and harder to contain with each new strike.The new ceasefire proposal would halt the fighting, reopen both shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz, and give Washington and Tehran room to salvage their collapsing memorandum of understanding (MOU)."We told the U.S. and Iran that we propose a cooling-off period," one of the regional sources said.State of play: Neither Trump nor Iran has accepted the proposal, and both sides appear determined to improve their leverage th… The Trump administration notified Israel it is sending dozens more refueling planes to the country ahead of a potential expansion of military operations against Iran, three U.S.
Why it matters: After he was presented with several new military plans in a Situation Room meeting Tuesday, President Trump is considering a massive offensive in Iran that would be wider in scope than the current strikes around the Strait of Hormuz.The big picture: Among the options being considered are bombing Iranian infrastructure facilities like power plants, conducting more attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities in order to bury Iran's enriched uranium even deeper, and bombing the Pickaxe Mountain underground site that is suspected to be a facility in the making. Trump hasn't made a final decision yet, but he appears willing to escalate the war to cause enough damage that the Iranian regime will open the Strait of Hormuz and accept Trump's nuclear demands. Trump could order an escalation in the coming days, U.S.
Driving the news: On Thursday, the U.S. military conducted strikes against Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz and the southern coast of Iran for the fifth day in a row. military bombed at least seven bridges around the city of Bandar Abbas, which is considered a hub for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) operations in the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S.
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