Trump Orders Fresh Attack on Iran
U.S. officials say the attacks could begin as soon as this weekend
Updated July 31, 2026 The Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON—President Trump has ordered a fresh attack on Iran aimed at getting Tehran to surrender that could begin as soon as this weekend and would last a few days, U.S. officials said.
Earlier on Friday, he told reporters that he planned to resume heavy military strikes to force the regime to come to the negotiating table. He predicted that if the U.S. hit Iran hard enough, the hard-line regime would eventually “peter out.”
“We will be hitting them very hard,” Trump said Friday at the televised cabinet meeting. “And you know at some point, they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore.’”
His comments, made during a cabinet meeting at the Camp David presidential retreat, were in contrast to his insistence earlier this week that “very friendly negotiations” were under way, enabling a pause on military operations. Since then, Iran launched a surprise attack on troops in Jordan, triggering a U.S. retaliatory attack on Wednesday.
For weeks behind closed doors, Trump has been telling aides that the Iranians are “crazy,” according to U.S. officials. He also has complained to confidants that the interim peace deal was ultimately meaningless, officials said, and that he always knew it wasn’t going to work.
His frustration was on full display during the meeting at Camp David when the president accused Iranian diplomats of being “very dishonorable” to deal with and suggested more violent military strikes were needed to break Tehran’s will.
“Well, they always want to talk, but they break their words so often,” Trump said, later adding, “All they do is make me angry.”
The frustration is mutual. Iranian diplomats have expressed exhaustion at the multiple times negotiations broke down with the U.S. From their perspective, officials say, there is a lack of trust between the two countries and that the relations and prospect of diplomacy worsen every time Trump threatens military force.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard on Thursday vowed to renew its attacks following the U.S. retaliatory strikes.
As the Iran war enters its sixth month, neither side appears any closer to softening its positions. Trump continues to insist that Iran must relinquish its nuclear program and abandon its control of the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran has dug in on both counts.
Among Trump’s options is a proposed two-week campaign of intensive airstrikes intended to blunt Iran’s missile capabilities. Dwindling munitions, however, have been cited by Trump’s military advisers as a potential risk, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Some U.S. officials believe Iran will continue to drag out negotiations, banking that Trump will abandon his war efforts in the long term in the face of mounting domestic political opposition.
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Appeared in the August 1, 2026, print edition as 'Trump Pledges to Resume Attacks'.