The army was 3 hours away from attacking Iran – until Trump announced an agreement

The news in brief:

• The US military was three hours away from striking Iran until Trump’s announcement, according to a report on NBC.
• Trump announced on social media that he had reached an agreement and canceled the military operation.
• US Navy ships have already prepared the armament for the air operation.
• Trump yesterday afternoon on the Truth network: “We will hit them tonight – and take over the island of Kharj.”
• Minister of War Heseth asked the army to formulate new and different attack options.
• The post about the cancellation of the strikes was published after Trump’s meeting with senior military officials.

The United States military was only about three hours away from launching missiles at targets in Iran last night (Thursday), until President Donald Trump announced on social media that an agreement had been reached, according to a report on the NBC network from US officials.

According to the sources, the army was already ready for action after receiving orders from the president to carry out the attacks on Thursday evening. US Navy ships adjusted their air operations plan for that day and prepared armaments for the attacks.

The officials stated that the island of Kharj was not included in the list of targets for attack, even though Trump threatened military activity there. The US military had plans to attack the island and even invade it during the past months, but this is part of a routine planning of all possibilities, and these plans were not approved by the president, according to the report.

Yesterday at noon, Trump threatened Iran on the Truth Social network: “We will hit them tonight, in the not too distant future – we will take over the island of Kharg.” One of the sources clarified that this post did not match the planning or the operations that the army was preparing to carry out that day.

According to the two US officials, the military had options ready, but commanders began planning Thursday night’s specific strikes only after Trump’s tweet in the morning. At the same time, Secretary of War Pete Hesseth made it clear to the senior military that he wanted the strikes in Iran to be different from the options presented to him in recent weeks. The sources added that the army was even more surprised by the president’s announcement about the cancellation of the attacks than his statements about the expected attacks and the occupation of the island of Kharj.

The decision to cancel was made after Secretary of War Hesseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Cain, arrived at the White House to discuss with Trump the options for action in Iran, according to two other American sources. They added that Trump published the post about canceling the strikes shortly after this meeting ended.