President Donald Trump gathered his top national security advisers in the Situation Room on Tuesday to discuss what could be a significant expansion of military operations against Iran, as Conservative Brief reported, because apparently four straight days of bombing was just the warm-up act.
Axios first reported that the closed-door meeting focused on military options that go well beyond the current strikes around the Strait of Hormuz. The goal is to ramp up pressure on Iran to reopen the strategic waterway and come to the table on its nuclear program. In attendance were 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 national security officials. The White House declined to comment, which in Washington speak means "yes, everything you heard is accurate."
U.S. forces have been busy over four consecutive days hitting Iranian air defense systems, radar installations, anti-ship missile positions, and drone launch sites near the Strait of Hormuz. The operations aim to degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping through one of the world's most critical energy corridors. Iran, for its part, has not been sitting quietly, launching retaliatory missile and drone strikes at American bases in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain while threatening broader disruptions to Middle Eastern energy exports. The U.S. also implemented a naval blockade targeting Iranian ports on Tuesday, just to keep things interesting.
Before heading into the Situation Room, Trump gave a preview of coming attractions during an interview with Fox News that read less like diplomatic signaling and more like a spoiler for next week's episode of a very expensive reality show.
"The U.S. military is going to hit Iran hard over the next three days," Trump said. He then laid out the next phase with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. "Next week, it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges. We're gonna knock out all their power plants. We're gonna knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate."
Trump also brought up Pickaxe Mountain, a heavily fortified underground facility that U.S. and Israeli officials have long suspected is connected to Iran's nuclear infrastructure. The president said intelligence is monitoring the site and indicated there is currently little movement there. "If there's even just a small amount, we'll hit it and we'll hit it hard," he said.
On the diplomatic front, such as it is, Trump said U.S. negotiators communicated with Iranian officials Tuesday with a message that was more ultimatum than olive branch. "I said, 'You better make a deal, or you're not gonna have anything left,'" the president said. Nothing says "let's negotiate" quite like telling someone their entire infrastructure is on a countdown timer.
No final decision on an expanded campaign has been publicly announced. But Tuesday's Situation Room session makes it clear the administration is actively weighing additional military options while keeping the diplomatic door technically open. Whether Iran walks through that door or the situation spirals into a broader regional conflict could come down to decisions made in the next few days by leaders in Washington and Tehran. Buckle up.
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