The Pentagon has drafted post-midterm strike options against Iran even as Tehran threatens bigger retaliation and U.S. intelligence flags advanced plots against Americans.
U.S. Central Command has prepared follow-up strike packages against Iran and presented them to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with any final green light resting with President Trump after the November midterms, The Hill reported.
A source familiar with the planning said the options sit ready if the White House authorizes action. The move comes as diplomatic talks remain stalled and Washington seeks major concessions from Tehran under sanctions and a naval blockade.
More than 50,000 U.S. service members are already in the Middle East. About 20 warships help enforce the blockade in the Arabian Sea, and two aircraft carrier strike groups are on station, with a third carrier headed to the region.
Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton laid out the threat in a memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as national security adviser.
Clayton wrote that Iranian efforts to target Americans have grown sharply.
"Specifically, through various channels, we have received intelligence that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel."
He added that the lethal plotting has reached advanced stages in the Middle East and other countries. That assessment lands as the State Department ordered nonemergency U.S. government employees and their families out of Saudi Arabia after continued attacks by Iran-backed Houthis.
The conflict has already stretched more than eight months. Last month the Pentagon said U.S. forces destroyed upwards of 90 percent of Iran’s ballistic missiles, naval industrial base, and drones. Iran still fields missiles and drones and has signaled it will answer any new attack with a larger, more aggressive, and different response.
Centcom oversees the forces arrayed across the theater. The Pentagon also dispatched 4,000 Marines and sailors aboard three warships led by the USS Makin Island. A Pentagon official stressed the department’s standing role when asked about the planning.
"Job is to develop and present military options to the President."
The same official added that the department does not speculate on hypothetical situations or future operations. Centcom did not respond to questions. The White House pointed reporters to Trump’s Friday remarks.
Hegseth visited U.S. troops in the Middle East this week alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Speaking later in Wisconsin, the defense secretary underscored the long working relationship with Israel’s military and called the Israelis good partners in keeping Iran from a nuclear weapon.
Readers tracking the political cost of the fighting have already seen how Iran war pressure and inflation hit the midterm outlook. The military planning now sits against that same calendar.
Trump has repeatedly left room for kinetic action while saying he remains open to a deal. On Wednesday he told reporters something would happen fairly soon one way or the other, with most people expecting movement after the election.
"We are going to have something one way or the other that’ll happen fairly soon. Most people seem to think it’s after the election, and we’re going to see what happens."
At a Friday rally in Fort Myers, Florida, he framed the choice in blunt terms: another round of hard action or an Iranian decision to come to the table. He has previously pulled back from strike packages after the Pentagon prepared them, and he has pointed publicly at hardened sites such as Pickaxe Mountain near the damaged Natanz facility in the Zagros Mountains, where experts note some infrastructure sits as deep as 2,000 feet under granite.
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as special envoy for Syria and Iraq, said in a Friday interview that a strike could come as soon as this weekend while stressing the president’s openness to a deal after months at the table. Asked about those comments, Trump said Barrack is a powerful man and that he did not know anything about a weekend strike if that was the case.
Those signals fit earlier moments when Trump signaled he may resume large-scale strikes on Iran ahead of regional diplomacy. Oil markets are already reacting: Brent crude pushed above $117 a barrel Friday, with U.S. crude near $102, the highest levels since May.
Iran expert Gregory Brew of Eurasia Group told The Hill the pattern points toward renewed U.S. strikes once the midterms pass, using force on top of sanctions and the blockade to push Tehran toward capitulation and an exit ramp for Washington.
"To me, it looks pretty likely that the U.S. goes back to military strikes on Iran once the midterm elections are passed."
Brew said Iranian leaders are not bending and have stuck to the same negotiating position for weeks. He also relayed that regional officials have explicitly named undersea cables in the Persian Gulf, AI data centers, and tech infrastructure as targets if Iran is attacked again, along with U.S. bases, warships, oil facilities, and allies.
Former Army major Harrison Mann, who served as executive officer of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Middle East/Africa Regional Center, offered a cooler read. He noted that since April the U.S. has largely limited attacks to coastal targets and has rarely flown aircraft over Iranian territory, both to limit escalation and to avoid more shoot-downs.
Mann argued that inland military targets or civilian and energy infrastructure remain possible paths, especially if Israeli forces join, but he said no level of U.S. or Israeli strikes so far has compelled Iran to change course. In his view Iranian leaders now see leverage and want concessions from Trump rather than surrender.
That debate collides with domestic politics. Some conservatives have already argued the Iran conflict may sink the midterms yet still be worth the cost. Trump has also used recent Florida remarks to link unfinished business with Iran to other flashpoints, including comments that U.S. ships will handle Cuba after Iran.
Earlier phases of the campaign included Israeli strikes on a wide set of sites at the outset and later U.S. claims of heavy damage to Iran’s missile and drone forces. Trump has previously described major blows against Iranian nuclear-linked sites in rally settings, including claims that Midnight Hammer smashed Iran nuclear sites he has tied to broader regime activity.
What remains unsettled is whether new options stay limited to military and nuclear-related targets or widen further, and whether Tehran’s threats against shipping, energy, and undersea infrastructure stay rhetorical. The anonymous planning source said Trump will keep the options open until he decides. No authorization for a new strike has been announced.
Iran’s economy is under sanctions and naval pressure. Its negotiators have not shown flexibility. Its security services are accused by U.S. intelligence of advancing plots against American officials. And its leaders promise a bigger reply if hit again. Those are the facts in front of the White House as the midterms approach.
A regime that plots against Americans and stalls at the table does not get to set the timetable. Strength, clear options, and consequences still matter more than another round of wishful diplomacy.