The Pentagon has told President Donald Trump it is prepared to carry out any decision he makes on Iran, U.S. officials told Reuters, underscoring how close Washington stands to a potential military confrontation. The comment, attributed to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a cabinet meeting, came as a substantial U.S. force posture has amassed in the Middle East.
At the meeting, Trump asked Hegseth for an assessment of the situation and was told that the Pentagon is ready to meet presidential expectations while warning that Iran should not seek nuclear weapons. Administration officials say Mr. Trump is reviewing a range of military options but has not yet decided whether to strike, and U.S. media reported that targets under consideration include Iranian leaders, security officials and nuclear sites.
The expansion of U.S. military options followed the deployment of the carrier Abraham Lincoln strike group to the region, a move that the White House believes increases its tactical flexibility. Officials framed the posture as deterrence, but the presence of more assets also narrows the range of plausible steps short of kinetic action, increasing the risk of miscalculation.
Tehran responded sharply. Iran’s foreign ministry warned that its armed forces were “ready to pull the trigger” in response to any aggression, and the presidential office said that Tehran would only talk seriously if Washington halted provocative actions. The exchange of threats raises the prospect of escalation through direct strikes or proxy attacks across the wider Middle East.
For international audiences the immediate significance is twofold: the window for both rapid escalation and rapid diplomacy has opened, and U.S. public declarations of readiness shift the burden of restraint onto political decision-making in Washington. Allies and regional partners will now be forced to weigh contingency planning, while markets and shipping lanes remain sensitive to any uptick in hostilities.