Trump Reportedly Holds Key Meeting To Decide How Much To Escalate In Iran

President Donald Trump held a meeting in the Situation Room to decide on the next course of action in Iran, according to a new report.

Axios detailed that Trump was joined by his top national security team, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine and other senior officials.

The outlet went on to note that the meeting focused on new plans to strike strategic targets in the country if the escalation continues.

Speaking to Fox News' Trey Ingst before the meeting, Trump anticipated an escalation, saying "next week it gets really bad for them." "Next week comes the power plants, next week comes the bridges. We're going to knock out all of their power plants. We'll knock out all of their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate," he said.

So far, most of the targets hit by the U.S. over the past days were air defenses and radar systems, as well as anti-ship missile positions and drone launch sites. Officials said the goal was degrading Iran's ability to target ships crossing through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran, in turn, continued to launch attacks against U.S. bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain.

The U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday that it conducted a new wave of strikes, "designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping" in the strait.

Iran, on its end, is signaling that it may expand pressure on global shipping beyond the strait by leveraging its Houthi allies in Yemen to threaten the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.

Together, the two chokepoints are among the world's most strategically important shipping lanes, carrying significant amounts of oil and commercial cargo. Reuters reported that the strategy would allow Iran to widen the conflict beyond the Persian Gulf and increase economic pressure on Washington and its allies.

The latest warning came from Mohammed al-Farah, a member of the political bureau of Yemen's Ansarullah movement, better known as the Houthis. According to a quote cited by Reuters from Iran's Press TV, al-Farah said Yemen's armed forces were prepared to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait if Saudi Arabia continued military operations against Yemen.

"If the current situation aggravates, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Strait of Hormuz will be closed in an operational alliance," al-Farah warned, adding that oil prices could surge to as much as $200 per barrel under such a scenario.