WASHINGTON — President Trump is hoping for a peace deal with Iran in the next two weeks — but in the meantime is refining war plans to have the most effective airstrikes possible “mapped out,” sources close to the White House told The Post, one of whom said the commander-in-chief is favoring the strikes.
Four sources describe Trump as personally reviewing details of the plans with his military commanders, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine and CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Kurilla.
“Very likely there will be strikes,” one source said. “But [Trump] wants a very mapped out and deliberate plan on what happens next. [He] doesn’t want to just figure it out step by step.”
Another source close to the administration said Trump “is more engaged than just about any president in a pre-strike scenario like this with his top commanders. President Trump is talking very intensively with both [Caine and Kurilla], more than most presidents would.”
“He’s talking to them directly and so it’s not like they’re coming up with new plans, but they are refining plans that are already on the table and tweaking them based on circumstances there now,” the second source said.
Trump said Thursday he will be making a decision “within the next two weeks” on whether to join Israel in bombing Iran to halt its nuclear program.
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi countered that Tehran would never hold nuclear talks with the US “until Israeli aggression stops.”
“Americans want to negotiate and have sent messages several times, but we clearly said that as long as this aggression doesn’t stop, there’s no place for talk of dialogue,” Araqchi said in an address on Iran’s state television.
But retired four-star Gen. Jack Keane also warned on “Fox & Friends” Friday that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, won’t agree to placing limits on his nation’s uranium enrichment.
“The reason why he has never made a deal is because he had built an enterprise to survive an attack — and he believes they can absorb the attack, survive it, recover it, and then rebuild,” Keane said.
“That is where this guy is. And I don’t see him, in the near term, making the deal here whatsoever.”
The messaging from the West Wing has been that Trump is getting briefed daily by his national security team in the situation room and seeks a diplomatic solution if possible — but hasn’t ruled out joining the fray with targeted military strikes.
“It’s very hard to stop, when you look at it, Israel is doing well in terms of war, and I think you would say that Iran is doing less well,” the president told reporters Friday evening after landing in New Jersey for a Republican fundraiser at his Bedminster golf club.
“We’re going to see what that period of time is, but I’m giving them [Iran] a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum.”
The question of US involvement centers on Israel’s possible inability to destroy the Fordow nuclear enrichment site located beneath a mountain.
Israel has been dropping 2,000-pound US-made bombs, but lacks the aircraft required to drop a 30,000-pound US-made “bunker buster.”
The “within two weeks” window gives Trump time to leverage both the possibility of striking a deal if Iran wants, and more time for the national security team to fully monitor the situation and provide the best plans.
A third source close to the administration said that in the end, only Trump knows what the final decision will be regarding striking Iran’s below ground nuclear facilities, or taking out Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei, like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to.
“Only he knows. Him and Netanyahu being on different pages about killing Khamenei suggests Trump is buying time for peace,” the source said.
“But we won’t know what this two weeks was actually for until there are strikes or [a] pause in tension.”
The two-week period allows Trump to have “better military plans” drawn up, the source added, “while also giving a chance for Iran to throw in the towel in a way he can sell to the world as meaningful and divide Netanyahu’s base of support.”
A fourth source, who is close to the Pentagon, described the current status of planning “a natural progression” where “you get more specific based off the broader operational plans,” though they note Trump still is hesitant to strike.
“I think the president has since 2019 had a very extreme aversion to getting directly involved in a war with Iran, however it does not mean the door is completely shut,” the source said.
“I think he has changed over the past week and a half and is more open to military action, but he is clearly still conflicted. … The Israelis have put the president in a corner.”
Trump told reporters Friday that “sometimes you need some toughness to make peace,” but that he views himself as “always a peacemaker.”
Israel accomplished a similar but simpler mission in Iraq — destroying a nuclear reactor in 1981 — by dropping 16 of its 2,000-pound bombs and it’s unclear whether some resolution could allow them to see similar success at Fordow after the Jewish state already established air supremacy over Iran.
Trump previously ordered US attacks in March on Iran-backed Houthi fighters who control northern Yemen and forced the group into an Omani-brokered deal to halt their bombardment of international shipping in the Red Sea.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth played a leading role in deliberations about the Yemen strikes, providing a detailed but respectful message supporting the operation in a later-leaked Signal group chat when Vice President JD Vance expressed concern that “we are making a mistake.”
Hegseth has been at the White House daily since Israel began striking Iran last week and Pentagon and White House officials say he also is an active part of deliberations.
“The Secretary is speaking with the President multiple times a day each day and has been with the President in the Situation Room this week,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said.
