Escalation Atmosphere Dominates the Region
As trust between Washington and Tehran continues to erode and the likelihood of escalation rises, the region faces a significant risk of renewed war. U.S. officials stated that President Donald Trump ordered a new attack on Iran, while other officials indicated that the United States and the Israeli entity are planning a broad bombing campaign against targets linked to Iran’s energy infrastructure, including power plants and oil refineries. Fox News reported that “there is a very high probability that strong U.S.-Israeli attacks against Iran could begin at any moment.” The Wall Street Journal quoted U.S. officials saying that Trump repeatedly told his aides, behind closed doors, that the Iranians were “crazy,” and complained to close associates that the temporary peace deal was ultimately “meaningless,” adding that he had always known it would not succeed.
Among the options under consideration for Trump is a two-week campaign of intensive air strikes aimed at reducing Iran’s missile capabilities. Speaking in a televised address to his cabinet at Camp David on Friday, Trump said the United States intends to resume intense military strikes to force the Iranian regime back to the negotiating table. He added, “We will hit them very hard... and at some point, they will say: We can no longer bear this.”
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt stated that “the United States reached a memorandum of understanding with Iran, but Iran violated it, targeted commercial vessels, and killed American soldiers,” adding that “Trump will not stand idly by and allow this terrorist behavior to continue.” Leavitt continued, “Iran will continue to pay the price until it returns to the negotiating table in a manner that President Trump considers serious and meaningful.”
A U.S. official told Axios that President Trump is seriously considering attacking energy targets in Iran in the coming days, aiming to pressure Iranians into accepting U.S. terms in negotiations, noting that the president had not yet issued final orders on the matter. A senior official in Tel Aviv said that Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu reviewed three war options during their meeting earlier this week, including military strikes targeting land supply routes. Additionally, high-level U.S. discussions were held on Friday regarding cutting electricity across Tehran, but no decision had been made yet.
In response, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency quoted a senior security official as saying that his country had prepared a comprehensive plan to respond to any “potential American madness,” dismissing talk of striking Iranian infrastructure as “a form of madness.”
As an indicator of the region possibly entering a new phase of military escalation, U.S. embassies in the region issued new security alerts yesterday for Americans in ten countries, urging extreme caution due to rising tensions with Iran. The alerts, which covered Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, urged U.S. citizens to prepare for the possibility of flight cancellations, temporary airspace closures, and other travel disruptions.
