Trump considering strikes on Iranian energy targets within days
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President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David on July 31, 2026. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
President Trump is seriously considering launching attacks against energy targets in Iran in the next few days, but hasn't given final orders to do it, a U.S. official told Axios on Friday.
Why it matters: A new U.S. bombing campaign in Iran against energy and infrastructure targets would be aimed at trying to get the Iranians to agree to the United States' terms in ongoing ceasefire negotiations.
- The strikes could also involve the Israeli military for the first time in many weeks, and such an escalation would likely lead to Iranian missile attacks on Israel.
- CBS News and the Wall Street Journal first reported about the potential strikes.
What they're saying: At the start of Friday's Cabinet meeting, Trump alluded to the potential attack, saying: "Well, we'll be hitting them very hard and, you know, at some point they're going to say, we just can't take it anymore."
- He added that the more the U.S. conducts strikes, the weaker the Iranians get "and then they peter out."
- "As President Trump said at his Cabinet meeting today, the United States will win, and Iran will not have a nuclear weapon under his watch," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios.
Between the lines: A U.S. official said the Iranians have been "very aggressive" in recent days.
- Some U.S. officials were stunned by how much the Iranians were willing to escalate.
- After their surprise missile attack against a U.S. base in Jordan on Wednesday, the Iranians launched additional attacks against U.S. forces in the region, a U.S. official said, declining to give more details.
- The Iranians also attacked commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday.
- President Trump threatened several days ago that any new attacks on ships would be answered with U.S. strikes on power plants and bridges in Iran, including in Tehran.
The other side: Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guards, quoted a senior security official saying that U.S. strikes on Iranian infrastructure targets would be "an act of madness."
- "We have prepared a broad response plan that includes strikes against the Zionist regime's critical infrastructure and U.S. energy infrastructure in the region, and we are fully prepared to carry it out," the Iranian security official told Tasnim.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
