As China Trip Ends, Trump Weighs Fresh Military Action Against Iran

Last Updated:May 16, 2026, 08:01 IST

Trump’s top aides have already drafted plans for renewed military action if the president decides diplomacy has failed.

US President Donald Trump returned from China on Friday, facing a crucial decision on Iran: whether to resume military strikes as the deadlock over Tehran’s nuclear programme and the Strait of Hormuz continues.

According to a report by The New York Times, Trump’s top aides have already drafted plans for renewed military action if the president decides diplomacy has failed.

The report said Pentagon officials are preparing for the possibility that Operation Epic Fury, paused after Trump declared a ceasefire last month, could resume within days, potentially under a new name.

Trump, however, has not yet made a final decision. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One after leaving Beijing, Trump dismissed Iran’s latest peace proposal. “I looked at it, and if I don’t like the first sentence I just throw it away," he said.

The US president also confirmed that Iran was discussed during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, though he said he did not ask Beijing to pressure Tehran.

China remains one of Iran’s most important strategic partners and depends heavily on oil and gas shipments moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

The NYT report said officials from several countries are trying to negotiate a compromise that would convince Iran to reopen the strategic waterway, allowing Trump to claim a diplomatic victory and reassure American voters concerned about a prolonged and expensive military conflict.

But the situation remains tense.

“We have a plan to escalate if necessary," US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers during congressional testimony this week. At the same time, Hegseth said there are also plans to scale back deployments and eventually return home the more than 50,000 American troops currently stationed across the Middle East.

According to the report, US and Israeli officials are already making what two Middle Eastern officials described as the “largest" preparations since the ceasefire took effect for possible renewed attacks on Iran as early as next week.

Before leaving for China, Trump had warned Tehran that it faced two choices. “They’re either going to make a deal or they’re going to be decimated," Trump said on Tuesday. “So, one way or another, we win."

If Trump authorises renewed military action, one option under consideration includes intensified bombing campaigns targeting Iranian military infrastructure.

Another possibility reportedly involves deploying Special Operations troops on the ground to target highly enriched uranium buried deep underground at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear facility.

Several hundred Special Operations personnel were sent to the Middle East earlier this year specifically to give Trump that option.

However, military officials acknowledged such an operation would carry serious risks and could require thousands of additional troops to secure the area and support ground forces.

Iran has also signalled it is preparing for a possible return to war. “Our armed forces are ready to deliver a well-deserved response to any aggression; mistaken strategy and mistaken decisions will always lead to mistaken results," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, wrote on social media.

“The whole world has already figured this out. We are prepared for all options; they will be surprised."

According to the report, the US military has used the ceasefire period to replenish weapons and reposition forces in the region.

Gen Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate defence subcommittee that the military continues to retain “a range of options" for civilian leadership.

At a Pentagon briefing earlier this month, Caine said more than 50,000 US troops, two aircraft carriers, over a dozen Navy destroyers and multiple warplanes “remain ready to resume major combat operations against Iran if ordered to do so."

“No adversary should mistake our current restraint with a lack of resolve," he said.

But despite weeks of military pressure, American intelligence agencies reportedly believe Iran has regained access to most of its missile launchers, underground facilities and strategic missile sites.

The NYT earlier reported that Iran has restored operational access to 30 of the 33 missile facilities it maintains along the Strait of Hormuz, a development that could again threaten oil tankers and US naval vessels passing through the narrow waterway.

The report also said nearly 5,000 Marines and around 2,000 troops from the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division remain stationed in the region awaiting orders.

Apart from supporting a possible operation targeting Iran’s nuclear material at Isfahan, the troops could also potentially be used in efforts to seize Kharg Island, one of Iran’s key oil export hubs, though officials acknowledged such an operation would require significantly larger ground deployments.

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