Donald Trump is privately sounding out close advisers on whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine should be dismissed after the midterm elections, as he considers whether to resume bombing Iran.
According to The Atlantic, the president has been pressing allies for their assessments of Hegseth and Caine—the two senior officials who told him the conflict would be over well before the midterms.
Advisers say a new wave of strikes could begin within days of Tuesday’s vote.
With Republicans facing a serious threat of losing control of both the House and Senate, Trump has reportedly begun blaming the Iran war in part for the party’s political troubles. His scrutiny is now focused on the officials who assured him the campaign would be swift and conclusive.
“Hegseth is good at telling the president what he wants to hear,” one outside adviser said. Other people familiar with Trump’s thinking believe the defense secretary has portrayed the war in an overly favorable light to preserve the president’s support.
Hegseth, Caine and Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of Central Command, appeared at the White House last week to present Trump and Vice President JD Vance with a range of options designed to allow the president to claim victory.
At the same time, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a frank phone conversation Saturday about the status of negotiations with Iran and the timing of any return to military action, according to one Israeli and one American source who spoke with Axios.
Netanyahu is pressing Trump to launch an attack immediately after Tuesday’s midterm elections. Trump, however, wants to give diplomacy more time—a position that has raised concern in Jerusalem.
Donald Trump is privately asking close advisers whether Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine should be removed after the midterms
“Hegseth is good at telling the president what he wants to hear,” one outside adviser said, while others believe the defense secretary has presented the war in an overly positive light
The options range from several hours of strikes to a weeks-long offensive, including one plan focused on Iran’s nuclear facilities
Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu spoke candidly Saturday about the Iran talks and how quickly military operations could resume
If Trump orders another attack on Iran, the proposed options range from a few hours of strikes to a campaign lasting several weeks, including one plan targeting the country’s nuclear program. Other possibilities include maintaining the naval blockade at the Strait of Hormuz while threatening further action—or stepping back entirely.
A prolonged operation would target Iran’s remaining defenses and infrastructure, which the administration is expected to characterize as serving both military and civilian functions.
The shorter attacks conducted since the weeks-long offensive began in late February have so far hardened Tehran’s position and prompted retaliatory strikes against U.S. forces and American allies across the region.
Last Sunday, Vance wrote to Mohsen Rezaei, Iran’s security chief, proposing a return to direct talks, with Tehran’s nuclear program placed on the agenda from the beginning.
The vice president did not specify what concessions or benefits Iran would receive in exchange.
Hegseth has spent the period before the election demonstrating his allegiance to Trump, including by dismissing Army Lieutenant General Brett Sylvia, the Joint Staff’s director of planning.
The removal followed claims from officials that Sylvia had failed polygraph examinations connected to an investigation into a leak.
Sylvia is among more than two dozen generals and admirals who have been pushed out during Hegseth’s tenure.
The Daily Mail revealed last week that Hegseth’s aggressive leadership style has prompted senior officials to keep dossiers stashed for a looming Democratic congressional probe into his tenure.
Pentagon sources told the Daily Mail they and their colleagues have spent much of the last 22 months compiling emails, memos and meeting notes.
The files detail times the defense secretary and his inner circle allegedly ignored strategic and legal advice, berated the experts who gave it, withheld information from Congress and the public, and threatened the careers of subordinates who either challenged his decisions or struck him as too woke, fat, queer or disloyal.
They figure the paper trail, plus a list of potential witnesses from inside the department, will come in handy if Democrats retake the House in November and, as expected, open an impeachment investigation in 2027.
As Republicans face the real possibility of losing the House and Senate, Trump has concluded the Iran war would be partly to blame and trained his attention on the advisers who promised a quick and decisive fight
Behind the war planning sits a White House gripped by a grim mood, rocked by turnover, factional knife fights and anxiety about losing control of Congress.
Trump has dismissed the polling that shows his unpopularity and raged that his message is not breaking through.
He has retreated into the company of loyalists including Natalie Harp, who has shifted her desk into his cluttered private dining room, and housing chief Bill Pulte, who turns up in his Air Force One cabin with poster boards and AI-generated memes.
There is a template for what happens next: after Democrats swept the 2006 midterms in a verdict on Iraq, George W. Bush forced out Donald Rumsfeld the day after the vote, then ordered a troop surge two months later.