Trump ‘seriously considering’ launching new strikes against Iran: report

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Published - May 23, 2026 07:25 am IST - Washington President Trump convened a meeting with his senior national security team regarding the war with Iran on Friday (May 22, 2026) morning, two U.S. officials told Axios. File. | Photo Credit: AP U.S. President Donald Trump is “seriously considering” launching fresh strikes against Iran if last-minute negotiations do not result in a peace deal, U.S. media outlet Axios reported on Friday (May 22, 2026). It said that Mr. Trump met with a senior national security team in the morning to discuss the war on Iran even as Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir visited Tehran and was joined by a delegation from Qatar in a last-minute bid to hammer out a deal. President Trump convened a meeting with his senior national security team regarding the war with Iran on Friday (May 22, 2026) morning, two U.S. officials told Axios. Mr. Trump is seriously considering launching new strikes against Iran barring a last-minute breakthrough in negotiations, sources who have spoken directly with the President say. Mr. Munir is expected to meet on Saturday (May 23, 2026) with Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a key player in the Iranian decision-making process. Axios reported that a U.S. official briefed on the diplomatic efforts described the negotiations as "agonising" with drafts "going back and forth every day" without much progress. The Friday (May 22, 2026) morning meeting at the White House with Trump was attended by Vice President J D Vance, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and other officials. "Iran is dying to make a deal. We’ll see what happens. But we hit them hard, and we had no choice because Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. They cannot have it,” Mr. Trump said at an event at the White House on Friday (May 22, 2026). U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Sweden that “slight progress” was made during talks with Iran. Mr. Rubio, who was in Sweden for the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting, said he did not want to exaggerate the progress in talks, saying there had been “a little bit of movement, and that’s good”. Mr. Trump visited New York for a political rally ahead of the mid-term elections in November. Earlier, he had planned to spend the weekend at the Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey, but cancelled it and returned to the White House on Friday evening. Mr. Trump also wrote on his Truth Social account that he was not going to attend his son Don Jr.'s wedding this weekend due to "circumstances pertaining to government and my love for the United States of America." "I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, DC, at the White House during this important period of time," he wrote. A source close to Mr. Trump and a second source with knowledge of the situation told Axios that Mr. Trump had grown increasingly frustrated about the negotiations with Iran over the past several days. On Tuesday (May 19, 2026) he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he wanted to give diplomacy another chance, but by Thursday night, he was leaning toward ordering a strike, the two sources told Axios. A source close to Mr. Trump said the president has raised the possibility of a final "decisive" major military operation, after which he could declare victory and end the war. Donald Trump / Iran / Israel-US strikes on Iran Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Trump ‘seriously considering’ launching new strikes against Iran: report

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Trump ‘seriously considering’ launching new strikes against Iran: report

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