The U.S. military completed its 13th consecutive night of strikes on Iran late Thursday, targeting command centers and maritime capabilities as President Donald Trump said he's considering a "massive attack" larger than anything previously conducted. The escalation comes as Republican defense leaders press the administration to intensify operations and public support for the conflict continues to erode.
The latest strikes lasted more than two hours, according to U.S. Central Command. CENTCOM targeted Iranian military command centers, drone storage facilities, communication networks, coastal surveillance sites and maritime capabilities to diminish the threat Iran poses to civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Presidential Decision Point
Trump hasn't set a deadline but told Axios Thursday he's "close to making a decision" on major combat operations. "I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. We are all set for it," the president said. He promised "major military punishment" for Iran and its Houthi allies after Yemeni fighters struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, extending the war into a second major shipping chokepoint.
The president has threatened to target Iranian energy facilities and bridges. Iran warned that such strikes would prompt attacks on regional oil, gas, electricity and economic facilities. Tehran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz. International law experts said in April that attacks on sites essential for civilians could amount to war crimes under the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Trump's April threat to destroy Iran's entire civilization drew wide condemnation.
Republican Hawks Push for Decisive Action
Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he's spoken to Trump multiple times this week and encouraged him to continue operations, with negotiations appearing fruitless. "I've expressed publicly and privately my approval of finishing the job, and realizing that negotiations were getting us nowhere," Wicker told The Hill Thursday. "I've made it clear that Iran, in my judgment, has no intention of negotiating in good faith or keeping a promise and that it's pointless to pretend that they are a trustworthy negotiating party."
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), a close Trump ally vying to chair the House Armed Services Committee, said the military needs to clobber Iran "as hard as we possibly can right now." He advocated maximum pressure from the air and maximum security of the strait. "Anything they have that they could possibly use to cause problems in the strait needs to be destroyed," Jackson said Thursday.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), who sits on the Armed Services Committee, praised Trump for being the only president to "have big enough balls" to bring Tehran to the negotiating table through "massive bombing strikes." The former Navy SEAL framed the conflict as preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. "We got to remember the goal. This is to make sure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon ever. They've been able to open and close the straits willy-nilly for 50 years with conventional weapons. If they had a nuclear umbrella over that, it becomes a binary choice: nuclear war, which no one wants, or these radical Muslim mullahs having control over the Strait of Hormuz in perpetuity," Van Orden said. "Those are unacceptable choices."
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who retired as a brigadier general in the Air Force, said Iran "needs to initiate peace" because if the U.S. does it, "they're going to think it's weakness." The Nebraska Republican said Tehran needs to believe it's being "crushed" militarily and feel forced to "stick their hand out to say please stop." "That's what we got to wait for," said Bacon, also a member of the Armed Services Committee.
Political Calculations and Military Costs
Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), a former Marine helicopter pilot, said Iran has shown nothing but "defiance" and hasn't displayed "good faith" in diplomatic talks. He noted Trump faces the delicate position of handling the conflict with midterms approaching and the administration hoping to keep the Republican majority in both chambers. "This should be one of those things that I think we need to bring to the end swiftly. It's an unfortunate cycle of politics right now. I used to teach the evolution of warfare, and wars never become more popular over time. The faster you end them, the better," McCormick said. "Even when it's violent, because you'll save lives. Ultimately, you save lives by being decisive and violent and turning the people against their own leadership."
McCormick, who was in the Navy Medical Corps, said the U.S. needs regime change in Iran. "It's the only thing that I think is going to solve this," he said. "It would be transformational to world politics. It would bring peace to the Middle East, which we haven't had in my lifetime; it would literally reinforce the Abraham Accords."
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28. Tehran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host U.S. bases. U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have since killed thousands and displaced millions.
Democratic Opposition and Public Sentiment
Democrats criticized Trump's decision to launch Operation Epic Fury and worked to halt military operations through war powers resolutions. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said, "It's clear, they had no plans." He added the administration "keeps people in the dark, and the president just makes the decision that he thinks, as he usually says, 'I just call it right.' … It is a stunning way to approach foreign policy."
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Middle East and North Africa, said the conflict has been "so botched" that it's "by no means clear what is the right move at this time." He said, "I think it's critical that the Strait of Hormuz be a free shipping lane, not subject to Iranian control. But I have no idea what steps are necessary to achieve that goal."
Sherman said Iran is "incredibly vulnerable" and that the country's electrical generation facilities are "legitimate military targets" to the extent they provide power to the Iranian military or weapons manufacturing facilities. "It is entirely legal for the United States to try to stop them from manufacturing drones that are terrorizing ships in a free navigation strait," Sherman said, adding he hasn't received a classified briefing on the Iran war recently.
The U.S. has surged firepower to the Middle East in recent weeks, sending F-35s and F-16 fighter jets to the CENTCOM theater. Multiple Air Force C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft were flying from Germany to Israel and Jordan last week, as reported by The Hill and other news outlets. More than 150 medics recently arrived at Germany's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a U.S. Army post near Ramstein Air Base, a U.S. official familiar with the matter told The Hill Thursday.
Since major hostilities resumed in early July, the U.S. military has suffered casualties. Eighteen service members have been killed in the conflict, and more than 500 have been injured. The Pentagon confirmed Monday that nearly 100 service members have been wounded since July 7, but 96 percent have returned to duty.
Public support for the war is declining, including among Trump's supporters. Just 24 percent of Americans think the conflict has been worth the cost, a June poll by Reuters/Ipsos found. Nearly 80 percent of respondents said in a Reuters survey released last week that the U.S. military will remain engaged in the war for "an extended period of time." A Politico poll this week found nearly 1 in 5 MAGA voters said the U.S. should end the conflict regardless of the costs.
Trump claimed the U.S. is doing "very well" in the war against Iran. "I would say better than anybody expected could be done," the president said Thursday.
Why This Matters:
The administration faces a critical decision point that will determine whether the U.S. commits to a protracted conflict or seeks a swift resolution through overwhelming force. Republican defense leaders argue that decisive military action now will prevent a longer, costlier engagement and establish American control over the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant portion of global oil supplies transit. The human cost is mounting—18 American service members killed and more than 500 injured—while public support erodes and midterm elections approach. The conflict's expansion into multiple shipping chokepoints threatens global energy markets and commercial maritime operations. Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz directly impacts international commerce and energy prices. The administration must balance military objectives against political realities, including declining support even among the president's base. How Trump resolves this tension will shape Middle East stability, America's credibility as a security guarantor, and the Republican Party's electoral prospects in November.