In the war against Iran, U.S. President Trump remains firm in his public stance. On Wednesday, he told Fox News: "We will defeat them completely... We will hit them hard, and they will suffer severe losses."
But the reality beneath the surface was quite concerning for him. On July 30th local time, NBC reported that Trump was "irritated" by the lack of progress in ending the conflict with Iran, as well as the lack of strategic consensus among his senior military advisors.
A Trump ally who wished to remain anonymous told NBC: “The president is very annoyed. I don’t think he expected it to be so difficult to get the Iranians to agree on an agreement. They didn’t really develop a strategy that would tell us how long it would take to reach an agreement and what measures should be taken to ultimately reach an agreement.”
He did not wish this to be a protracted war,” added his ally.
Another anonymous U.S. official also revealed that the root cause of Trump's frustration lies in the lack of consensus among his team on how to continue this war. "After all this time has passed, we still haven't reached a unified opinion."
The official said that whether it is to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear capabilities, to ensure the Strait of Hormuz remains open, or to destroy Iran’s missile and drone programs… Since the government’s goals are unclear, planning an end to these operations has become extremely difficult.
According to him, the military is preparing to launch another large-scale attack without any clear instructions from the White House. “We have achieved a series of tactical victories, but due to a lack of clear policy guidance and decisions about the future direction, we are facing strategic failures,” he said.
Sources also told NBC that Trump had a direct “outburst” during a meeting with the senior national security team last week, even using vulgar language and cursing at those present.
White House press secretary Caroline Lavelle denied this. She told NBC, “This is false. The President has a team of experts he trusts, and everyone on that team knows that he is the ultimate decision-maker.”
Levy also said that Trump 'will not stand by and let them violate the memorandum of understanding, kill our soldiers, and fire at our ships in the strait.'
Five-story building chief spokesman Xiao En-Panner also stated that the Ministry of Defense “is ready at any time to execute the President's orders.”
Panell added that Defense Secretary Hagel, Central Command Commander Admiral Brett Cooper, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Coase “are completely aligned in their approach to overseas operations involving Iran, maintaining unity in mission, strategy, and determination.”
The Wall Street Journal also reported that Trump is considering authorizing a large-scale airstrike against Iran, involving intensive strikes over a period of 10 to 14 days, with the aim of severely weakening Iran’s missile capabilities.
An official familiar with government internal discussions said that the plan was developed by Cooper. It is reported that Defense Secretary Hagel supports this proposal, and Trump is also considering a more limited strike to give room for subsequent diplomatic negotiations.
