Trump considers expanded Iran operations targeting islands, oil hub and nuclear site

The US is mulling a sharp expansion of its war on Iran, with US President Donald Trump now weighing ground operations to seize Iranian islands near the Strait of Hormuz and a strike on Pickaxe Mountain — a fortified, nuclear-linked tunnel complex, US officials tell the Wall Street Journal. The options include putting American troops on Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil-export hub, although Trump said this week the seizure is unlikely but not ruled out.

The deliberations came as US forces pressed ahead with more strikes on Iranian coastal defenses, missile sites, and command centers on Wednesday. The US military also fired missiles yesterday on a sanctioned supertanker that CentCom says ignored warnings to turn away from Kharg Island and “attempted to violate the US blockade.”

Tehran has reportedly told its Houthi allies in Yemen to be ready to close the Red Sea’s Bab El Mandeb strait if the US hits Iranian power infrastructure, Reuters reports. The Houthis have reportedly responded to Iran’s requests by setting up drones and missiles near the strait and are now waiting for a signal to enforce their blockade. The move would sever the region’s only major alternative oil route as Hormuz remains closed.

Not an open-ended war? US Vice President JD Vance has framed the strikes as pressure, not open-ended war, saying, “we’re not just going to bomb and bomb and bomb.” The recent strikes on Iranian military capabilities were specifically designed to strategically weaken the country before pushing ahead with expanded tactics, Reuters quotes three officials as saying. Trump, meanwhile, insists that Iran wants to “settle so badly,” although defense analysts speaking to CNBC say they see no realistic path toward settlement.

Meanwhile in the Levant: Trump is now pushing Israel to pull its forces out of Syria and Lebanon, telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “they don’t want you there,” Axios reports. The request from Washington came after Trump met with Syria’s Ahmed Al Sharaa on the sidelines of the recent NATO summit in Turkey, while Israel has yet to redeploy its forces out of two areas in southern Lebanon despite having committed to the withdrawal in negotiations several weeks ago.