U.S. Central Command chief reports Iran attack scenarios to Trump

[Financial News] The U.S. Central Command, which has halted military operations against mainland Iran since early last month, reported a new military attack scenario targeting Iran to U.S. President Donald Trump on the 29th, local time.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Brad Cooper, the commander of Central Command, which is responsible for U.S. operations in Iran, briefed Trump in person on military options at the White House that day. Secretary of War (Defense) Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine and other Cabinet members were also reportedly present. Another source said military generals met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance the previous day.
The WSJ said it was rare for the CENTCOM chief to report directly to Trump and assessed that the United States was moving closer to resuming large-scale military operations. Cooper had previously briefed Trump on options for a military attack on Iran aboard the presidential aircraft on July 23, just after a ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware marking the return of the remains of U.S. service members.
CENTCOM, which has been attacking Iran since February, has refrained from airstrikes on mainland Iran since it struck Iranian military facilities around the Strait of Hormuz on the first of last month. Instead, CENTCOM is attacking Iranian oil tankers and other vessels around the strait. Trump said on social media on the 8th that he was having productive discussions with Iran and that “we will not attack Iran before the U.S. midterm elections on November 3.”
At a campaign rally in Florida on the 23rd, Trump referred to the February Iran attack operation, Operation Epic Fury, and said, “We could carry out another small ‘Epic Fury’ operation.” In a Fox News interview on the 25th, he said of Iran, “I have to make a decision: Should I completely wipe out Iran? That would be very easy to do,” adding, “Or should I make a deal?”
The WSJ reported that the U.S. Department of War (Defense) had sent additional air-defense equipment, ammunition and supplies to the Middle East in recent weeks, laying the groundwork for a new airstrike operation, and had withdrawn some troops from U.S. bases considered vulnerable to Iranian retaliation. The U.S. Army is also moving additional Army Tactical Missile System batteries to Israel to protect the country.
The Trump administration is also keeping the possibility of negotiations open. On the 28th, the WSJ reported that Vance had sent a letter, at Trump's direction, to Mohsen Rezaee, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and regarded as a hard-liner in Iran, seeking to resume peace negotiations.
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