Add The New York Post on Google WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday previewed upcoming military strikes in Iran during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David as reports surfaced he has a range of options at his disposal — including a two-week campaign to target Tehran’s remaining missile capabilities.
“We’re in for five months, and we have obliterated their military capacity,” he said of the Iran war. “Again, they’ve got some left, but soon they won’t have some left.”
Trump added that the Iranian regime had “been very dishonest” throughout the process.
“They’ve been very dishonorable to deal with,” he said.
President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth participate in a cabinet meeting at Camp David in Thurmont, Maryland on July 31, 2026. REUTERS It comes as US Central Command has prepared a large-scale operation for Trump to hit Iran with a decisive two-week bombing campaign should he choose escalation to break the deadlock in the Middle East, two sources confirmed to The Post on Friday.
A senior administration official told the Wall Street Journal — which on Wednesday first reported the option to “go big” — that Trump “is in an escalatory mood” but still considering “the depth of that response.”
The campaign is designed to target much of Iran’s remaining missile capabilities, as Tehran has repeatedly targeted US forces and allies in the region in recent weeks. The idea, the Journal wrote, is to counter the threat of a dwindling US stockpile of defensive missiles by greatly reducing the need for them.
Rather than yet another series of limited strikes, the proposal envisions 10 to 14 days of sustained attacks aimed at crippling Iran’s missile infrastructure and breaking what military planners see as a battlefield stalemate.
The campaign, drafted by CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper, is not the only option before the president, but it would be the most significant military endeavor the US has taken on since the initial April 8 cease-fire that ended the first phase of the war, the sources said.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine has reportedly taken a more cautious approach, warning the White House that an expanded campaign would further strain US stocks of air-defense interceptors needed to protect American forces and allies around the world, according to the Journal.
Trump this week took a determined stance on the possibility of escalation, telling Fox News on Wednesday that “we’re going to beat the f—ing sh—out of them.”
“We’ll be hitting them hard,” he said.
Later that day, the US launched strikes against dozens of targets tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including command centers and missile and drone facilities, calling the operation a “powerful response” to Tehran’s latest missile attack on American forces.
Still, Trump added that “we’re going to let them keep talking,” signaling he has not yet closed the door on diplomacy.
But recent talks have overall been fruitless, with even mediators growing frustrated, according to a source familiar with internal discussions.
“[Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas] Araghchi and [Iran Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher] Qalibaf are on one side, the IRGC is on the other,” the source said, explaining that Tehran’s negotiators are on a “completely different page” than the war-hungry Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
