Admiral Brad Cooper, the US military's senior officer overseeing the Middle East, met President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday to outline military options in Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials and other people with direct knowledge of the meeting. Reuters relayed the Journal's account and said it could not immediately independently verify the report.

Source: Reuters

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine and additional Cabinet members also attended the meeting, the Journal reported, according to ANI. The gathering followed a White House meeting on Wednesday involving the military officials and Vice President JD Vance. Cooper rarely briefs the president in person, which is why the meeting drew attention in Washington reporting.

Source: ANI via Indian Economic Observer

The briefing is a new step in a sequence Awaaz Punjab has reported this week: the Journal earlier reported that US officials had warned several Gulf Arab countries to prepare for a possible short, intense military campaign against Iran after the November 3 midterm elections, and that Vance had written to Iran's security council chief Mohsen Rezaei to revive peace negotiations. No strike decision has been announced, and diplomats briefed on the warnings have stressed that Trump has not made a final decision.

Washington has increased air defences, munitions and additional supplies across the Middle East in recent weeks, while repositioning select troops away from installations considered vulnerable to potential Iranian retaliation, according to the Journal's report. A Pentagon spokesperson and a CENTCOM spokesperson both declined to comment when approached by the newspaper.

Tehran responded on Thursday through its parliament speaker. Iran's conditions had been repeatedly and clearly communicated to mediators and progress can only be achieved if Iran's seven conditions are met, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said, adding: 'The carrot-and-stick approach has no effect on Iran.' Reuters reported that the conditions Iran says must be met before it will reopen the Strait of Hormuz include lifting the US blockade on Iranian ports, lifting US sanctions on Iranian oil exports and ending hostilities on all regional fronts.

Source: Reuters

The military track is running alongside a diplomatic one. Iran has received a letter from Vance but has not responded to it yet, the country's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday. Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the outreach was about helping Iran get medical supplies — 'Basically, it's getting supplies in to help people that are not well' — and denied that he had directed Vance to reach out to restart peace negotiations. Qatari mediators presented Iran with a new draft deal on Sunday, but a senior Iranian official said Doha had only put forward unacceptable ideas that did not amount to an offer.