Top US commander briefs Trump on Iranian military options as 10 US military transport planes land in Israel
The top U.S. military commander overseeing the Middle East met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday to present military options regarding Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials and others with direct knowledge of the meeting.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine also participated in the meeting, during which the head of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, presented the options, according to the report.
Reuters said it could not immediately independently verify the Wall Street Journal’s reporting.
The meeting came as Washington and Jerusalem last week reportedly considered a “short but intensive operation” of new strikes against Iran after the November 3 US midterm elections.
Military exercises have intensified, targeting Iranian energy sites, nuclear facilities and missile and drone arsenals. The report said Trump could still decide not to intervene militarily.
More than 10 U.S. military transport planes have landed at Israeli air bases in southern Israel over the past week, according to analysts who monitor open source flight tracking data.
Most of the recent cargo flights took off from Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso, Texas, and were bound for the Israeli Air Force bases of Nevatim and Ovda in southern Israel, according to the data.
A number of other US military cargo flights have also traveled in recent days to US bases elsewhere in the Middle East, including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.
The contents of the transport planes were unknown, but were believed to be linked to U.S. efforts to bolster its air defenses in the region in anticipation of a possible new round of fighting with Iran.
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US military was sending a Patriot battery from Texas to bolster its air defenses in the region.
Iranian officials denounce election interference efforts
Iran sought to interfere in Israeli elections and planned to attempt to disrupt the US midterm elections the following week, Britain’s Telegraph reported Thursday, citing several Iranian officials.
“We have studied ways to recruit agents into the electoral processes of the American and Israeli regimes,” one of the officials told the newspaper, without elaborating on the efforts that were made to interfere in Israeli elections.
Regarding the US vote, the official said: “Powerful cyber groups have also been created to hack their election systems. »
Another Iranian official described the campaign as part of Tehran’s response to the war, which Iran said was imposed on it by Israel and the United States.
“War does not just mean missiles and weapons when we are under their blockade,” the official said. “It also means that we are prepared to disrupt their elections, their banking, their travel and all their ordinary systems. »
“We are not in favor of any candidate anywhere, but we would like to see a divided America and a divided Israel,” the official added.
The report comes amid an Israeli investigation into alleged foreign attempts to influence Tuesday’s elections. Central Election Commission Chairman Judge Noam Sohlberg on Thursday asked the Shin Bet to examine intelligence regarding suspected foreign financing and possible election interference, while stressing that the suspicions had not been substantiated. The Shin Bet said the information came from its own intelligence regarding foreign influence.
Three oil tankers hit mines near the Strait of Hormuz
Separately, three oil tankers exploded and caught fire after hitting sea mines while trying to cross an unauthorized route south of the Strait of Hormuz in the previous 24 hours, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement carried by state media.
The Guard said the ships turned off their radars and navigation systems and ignored warnings from its naval forces. The tankers were then abandoned on the southern banks of the strait, according to the statement.
It’s not clear if anyone was injured or who laid the mines.
Tehran says it received Vance’s letter
Iran confirmed on Thursday that it had received a letter from US Vice President JD Vance but said he had not yet responded, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
The acknowledgment comes after The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Vance sent a letter to Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, as part of an effort to restart peace negotiations.
Tasnim said Tehran continued to insist on respecting the seven conditions it had set for the United States, adding that “any position that contradicts this framework is unacceptable.”
The agency did not detail the conditions in the materials provided.
Trump, however, said Wednesday that Vance’s efforts were aimed at helping Iran obtain medical supplies.
Asked later by reporters whether he had ordered Vance to contact Iran to restart peace negotiations, Trump replied: “No.”
“Basically, they need help with medical supplies and various things. (Vance) asked me what I thought. I said, if you want to do that, that’s no big deal. Basically, it’s about getting supplies to help people who aren’t doing well,” Trump told reporters.
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