The Trump administration is considering a military escalation to break the diplomatic impasse with Iran, despite having formally notified Congress that Operation Epic Fury has been terminated.
Adm. Brad Cooper, the chief of U.S. Central Command, said on Tuesday that American forces in the Middle East remain deeply entrenched in the region and are at the highest level of readiness.
“I am prepared to execute a broad range of contingencies,” Cooper testified before the House Armed Services Committee. “We’re prepared for further direction depending on how negotiations go.”
In the meantime, Cooper told lawmakers that CENTCOM will maintain its blockade on all vessels entering of leaving Iranian ports — a posture that has led the military to redirect a reported 88 commercial vessels since it went into effect on April 13.
The United States said it had also disabled four boats “to ensure total compliance.”
Washington and Tehran are deadlocked over how to resolve their nearly three-month conflict, with no discernible path toward a peace deal. The talks have foundered over the specifics of Iran’s nuclear program and access to the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed since the beginning of the war. In ordinary conditions, the strait accounts for roughly one-fifth of global oil supply.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed he had been “an hour away” from authorizing a major strike on the Islamic Republic but ultimately backed off after the leaders of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia urged him to postpone the attack in favor of continued dialogue.
“The ships were all loaded — loaded to the brim — and we were all set to start,” the president told reporters at the White House. Such a move would have ended the fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire.
“I hope we don’t have to do the war, but we may have to give them another big hit,” he continued. “I’m not sure yet, you’ll never very soon.”
Trump said that Iran has “two or three days, maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday, something, maybe early next week – a limited period of time,” to come to the table.
Vice President JD Vance, who led the White House press briefing on Tuesday, stressed that it “takes two to tango.”
“We have an opportunity here, I think, to reset the relationship that has existed between Iran and the United States for 47 years,” Vance said. “So, as the president just told me, we are locked and loaded. We don’t want to go down that pathway, but the president is willing and able to go down that pathway if we have to.”
The Islamic Republic’s Deputy Foreign Minister, in response to Trump’s threats, asserted that Iran is primed to confront any military aggression.
“Iran, united and resolutely, is prepared to confront any military aggression,” Kazem Gharibabadi wrote in a post on X. “For us, surrender holds no meaning; we either triumph or become martyrs.”
Tanya Noury is a reporter for Military Times and Defense News, with coverage focusing on the White House and Pentagon.
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