Trump Says He Is Weighing an Iran Deal or More Strikes as US Military Readies Options

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he must soon choose between making a deal with Iran and launching military action to finish it off, telling Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures it was nearly decision time. Before leaving the White House for a campaign event in Michigan, he told reporters there would be no strike that day. US forces in the Middle East are reportedly ready to launch new, potentially major operations within 96 hours of an order from Trump. The Hill reported Saturday that Central Command has prepared strike plans, and a source said options were presented to War Secretary Pete Hegseth but not finalized. The New York Times reported planners have considered hitting Iranian energy infrastructure, and that Trump has privately leaned toward another major round of strikes. Trump also said he has two very different sets of intelligence reports, after a Friday memo on Iranian plans targeting Americans. Iran's ambassador to Islamabad, Reza Amiri Moghadam, said Saturday that Iran remains open to talks under the Pakistan-brokered interim deal reached in June, and would reopen the Strait of Hormuz if Washington lifted its naval blockade. Multiple outlets reported a Qatari delegation was in Iran Sunday to try to restart diplomacy.

Breitbart, on the right, headlines Trump's deal-or-finish-them-off line alongside "Military Readies New Strike Options." It builds the story on US planning, citing The Hill, the New York Times and Hegseth, with broader targets and Trump's private lean toward strikes. Left-leaning CBS News uses the same quote in its headline but opens on Iran: Mojtaba Khamenei's first reported meeting since the war began, Iran's compensation demand, and the ambassador's Hormuz offer, which it says Trump rejected. CNN stresses readiness within 96 hours "if Trump chooses." Both sides report that strike options exist and that Trump has not decided. The right foregrounds escalation, while the left foregrounds Iranian statements and diplomacy. The American Conservative adds the no-strike remark, Qatari mediation, the conflicting intelligence comment and an Iranian drone-downing claim.