US President Donald Trump launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran in February 2026 after senior advisers warned about energy, military and political risks, according to a Wall Street Journal report summarized by Middle East Monitor on Aug. 25, 2026.
The account said Tulsi Gabbard, then the director of national intelligence, cautioned before the operation that killing Iran's supreme leader could result in a more hard-line successor. She also reportedly warned that Iran might close the Strait of Hormuz, a passage used for about one-fifth of global oil and gas trade.
Vice President JD Vance favored attempting negotiations first, according to people familiar with the pre-war discussions. His reported position was that a diplomatic agreement would cost less than a conflict whose consequences could become difficult to control.
The report distinguished those cautions from the military options presented to Trump. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed the president on strike plans described as decisive. Other officials raised concerns about shortages of munitions and additional demands on US forces that were already stretched. Trump reportedly responded that the military could address problems as they emerged.
These details were based on the Journal's account of private meetings and unnamed people familiar with them. The available reporting did not include meeting records or direct responses from Trump, Gabbard, Vance, Hegseth or Caine, so the internal discussions could not be independently assessed.
Trump was initially satisfied with the offensive, the report said, and celebrated after learning that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had been killed. His approach shifted as the fighting stalled and fuel prices rose. Leaders from Saudi Arabia and Qatar pressed Washington to seek a negotiated outcome.
Internal US polling reportedly showed that nearly 80% of Americans preferred an agreement ending the war. Some Republican politicians also warned that an extended conflict could damage the party in the November midterm elections. Trump subsequently pursued an interim truce reached in June.
That pause did not produce a comprehensive settlement. A 60-day period assigned to nuclear negotiations expired on Aug. 17 without a final deal. The administration then returned to Operation Economic Outcast, a policy intended to weaken Iran through sanctions and a continuing naval blockade.
The report presents the offensive as a decision made despite significant internal objections, but it does not establish that any single warning determined later events. The account instead describes competing advice before the attack and a later move from open warfare to a temporary truce, followed by renewed economic pressure.
