The U.S. military was about three hours from launching missiles inside Iran today when Trump announced on social media that a deal had been reached, according to two U.S. officials.
The military was ready, having already received orders from Trump to carry out the strikes this evening, the officials said. They said U.S. Navy ships had adjusted their air operations plan for the day and readied munitions for strikes.
The officials said Kharg Island was not on the target list, even though Trump threatened military action there.
The U.S. military has had plans for striking Kharg Island — and even to invade it — for the past several months, but those plans were part of typical planning for all options and were not approved by Trump, the officials said.
The U.S. military previously struck Kharg Island during major combat operations. Trump’s Truth Social post this morning said the U.S. would be hitting Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and that in the near future the U.S. would be “taking Kharg Island” and other oil infrastructure.
That post did not align “with any of the planning or action” the military was preparing to take on today, one of the officials said.
The military had options ready, but military officials did not start planning the specific strikes that were readied for tonight until after Trump posted on social media this morning, the two US officials said. At that time, they said, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made it clear to military officials that he wanted strikes in Iran to be different from options that were briefed to him over the past few weeks.
The U.S. officials said the strikes planned for tonight were very similar to the ones the U.S. military conducted last night.
The military was even more surprised by Trump’s post canceling the strikes than they were by his comments about big strikes coming tonight and taking Kharg Island, the officials said.
Hegseth and the chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, traveled to the White House today to discuss options for Iran with Trump, according to two other U.S. officials. Trump posted about canceling the strikes soon after the meeting, the officials said.