President Trump convened a Situation Room meeting Tuesday with his top national security advisers to discuss plans for a significantly expanded U.S. military offensive against Iran beyond the ongoing operations around the Strait of Hormuz, Axios reported.
The meeting came as U.S. forces carried out a fourth consecutive day of strikes targeting Iranian air defense systems, radar sites, anti-ship missile positions, and drone launch sites along the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s southern coast. According to U.S. officials, the objective is to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping. At the same time, Iran continued launching missiles and drones toward U.S. bases in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain, while the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports officially went into effect Tuesday afternoon.
According to the report, Trump was joined in the Situation Room by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, White House envoy Steve Witkoff, and other senior officials. Sources said the discussions focused on plans for devastating strikes against additional strategic targets inside Iran beyond the current operations near the Strait of Hormuz. The White House declined to comment.
Speaking to Fox News before the meeting, President Trump warned that the U.S. military will hit Iran “hard” over the next three days and said the campaign could intensify even further next week. He specifically warned that Iranian power plants and bridges could become targets unless Tehran agrees to negotiate. Trump also said the U.S. is closely monitoring Iran’s underground Pickaxe Mountain facility and warned that if activity there increases, it could be struck despite its heavily fortified location.
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