A woman walks past a poster of Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in front of a mosque in Tehran. (AFP Photo)
The Trump administration on Sept. 3 found itself pulled in two directions as it reassesses both the timeline and strategy of its six-month-old conflict with Iran, even as fresh clashes erupt across the Gulf.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, U.S. President Donald Trump has discussed with senior aides “whether to declare the Iran war over,” a move the president reportedly “favors.”
He believes that maintaining intense economic pressure will eventually force Tehran to “either dismantle its nuclear program or collapse,” the report said.
Despite the private discussions, the Pentagon is extending deployments in a sign that the war could drag “well into next year.”
The military is maintaining 50,000 troops and 19 warships, including two aircraft carriers and 13 guided-missile destroyers, to provide the president with operational “flexibility.”
That tension played out this week as Iran struck Kuwaiti territory, with Kuwait’s military confirming it intercepted hostile drones and missiles.
The exchange came after intensified American strikes on Iranian soil left civilians and combatants dead, including casualties reported at a wedding gathering that Tehran condemned as a war crime.
Iran responded with retaliatory strikes against U.S. positions across Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq and the UAE, marking one of the heaviest rounds of fighting in weeks.
Trump told reporters he doesn’t expect the confrontation to drag on much longer, though he also said Washington remains ready to strike again “any time” it chooses.
Politically, aides are reportedly trying to keep the war from escalating further before the November midterms, wary that a wider conflict could compound Republican losses.
Internally, officials have signaled they may revisit more aggressive options once voting concludes, while publicly leaning on economic measures, including the newly launched Operation Economic Outcast, aimed at Iran’s oil, shipping, aviation and financial sectors, to extract concessions that months of strikes have failed to secure. Public opinion has turned firmly against the war, with polling showing roughly two-thirds of Americans disapproving.
Meanwhile, Trump on Sept. 2 suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz as “Trump Strait” despite ongoing clashes with Iran, then hours later implied he wasn’t serious.
Trump has made a series of geographical name changes to international bodies of water in his second term, at least partly with the aim of trolling other countries.
The latest suggestion came as Trump insisted the U.S. had full control of the crucial waterway, even as fresh clashes raged there with Iran.
“Now that we have it under U.S.A. control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT??? Like America itself, it would be ‘hotter’ than ever before!” Trump said on his Truth Social network.
The White House later posted a map of the Gulf on social media with his suggested name, adding: “It’s got a nice ring to it.”
