US commander briefs Trump on Iran attack plans as Qatar mediates

Brad Cooper, the top US commander in the Middle East, briefed Trump at the White House on Thursday with War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine, according to the Wall Street Journal. The report said US officials warned the Arab states of the Persian Gulf to prepare for a short, intense campaign after the midterm elections, while the Pentagon moved additional air defenses, munitions and supplies into the region.

Senator Chris Murphy said the plan was “insane” and would “set off a new cycle of escalation.” Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on Friday after a senior Iranian official rejected a US-approved draft presented on Sunday, Reuters reported. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran’s conditions had been “repeatedly and clearly stated” and that the “carrot-and-stick approach has no effect on Iran.” Washington wants nuclear issues addressed first, while Tehran demands an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports and sanctions on oil exports, according to the report.

At the UN Security Council, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said military attacks last year forced the agency to suspend inspections and withdraw personnel, and that inspectors had found no repairs or reconstruction at nuclear facilities damaged in the attacks last year and this year. Separately, UKMTO said a small boat attached two explosive devices to a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, causing an engine-room fire that the crew extinguished.