The Iranians on Wednesday conveyed a message to the Qataris, who together with the Omanis are trying to mediate a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, a person familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post.
We are willing to talk in order to reach an agreement with the US, but Israel needs to “calm things down,” the Iranians said, according to the source.
Gen. Michael Kurilla, commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), met with US President Donald Trump and presented him with military options regarding Iran, a person familiar with the matter told the Post.
Kurilla supports a strike and is highly knowledgeable about both American operational plans and Israeli capabilities, owing to his role as commander of CENTCOM in recent years, the source said. It is no coincidence that, according to reports, Israel wants to carry out the strike before Kurilla leaves his position, the source said.
If Trump orders an attack on Iran, Kurilla would be the one to lead the operation. Trump is attentive to what Kurilla has to say and respects him, the source told the Post.
A person familiar with the matter told the Post Wednesday evening: “Trump would be pleased if the Iranians agreed to a deal he describes as ‘surrender.’ Since that is not on the horizon, the working assumption is that he will order a strike.”
US military is ready for action
The US military is ready to carry out any decision that Trump may make on Iran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday, suggesting that the matter could become clearer in the coming days.
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he was very cautious in his public testimony, declining to say whether the Pentagon had prepared strike options against Iran.
But when pressed by lawmakers, Hegseth acknowledged being ready to carry out any orders on Iran and cautioned that Tehran should have heeded Trump’s calls for it to make a deal on its nuclear program prior to the start of Israel’s airstrikes on Friday.
“They should have made a deal,” he said. “President Trump’s word means something. The world understands that, and at the Defense Department, our job is to stand ready and prepared with options, and that’s precisely what we’re doing.”
Asked whether the Trump administration was moving to reestablish deterrence, a term used to describe actions meant to constrain an adversary from taking hostile action, Hegseth said: “I think we already have in many ways in this environment reestablished deterrence. The question is, in the coming days, exactly what direction that goes.”
Trump on Wednesday declined to answer reporters’ questions about whether the US was planning to strike Iran or its nuclear facilities. He said the Iranians had reached out, but he feels “it’s very late to be talking.”
“There’s a big difference between now and a week ago,” he told reporters outside the White House. “Nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
Trump said Iran had proposed to come for talks at the White House. He described Iran as totally defenseless, with no air defenses, as Israeli airstrikes entered a sixth day.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected Trump’s demand for an unconditional surrender.