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United States President Donald Trump is privately considering declaring the war with Iran over, even as the Pentagon quietly extends troop deployments in the Middle East, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The newspaper reported that Trump has discussed with senior aides “whether to declare the Iran war over,” a move the president reportedly favors.
Trump believes that maintaining intense economic pressure will eventually force Tehran to either dismantle its nuclear program or collapse, according to the report.
The United States launched Operation Economic Outcast last week, targeting Iran’s key economic lifelines, including its oil, shipping, aviation, gold, technology and digital asset sectors.
Despite the private discussions, the Pentagon is extending deployments in a sign that the war could drag “well into next year,” the Journal reported.
The U.S. military is maintaining 50,000 troops and 19 warships in the region, including two aircraft carriers and 13 guided-missile destroyers, to provide Trump with operational “flexibility.”
Trump said Wednesday that the United States is confronting Iran to protect Israel, the Middle East and Western countries from potential attacks.
“We're doing it to help the Middle East. We're doing it to help Israel. We're doing it to help ourselves because after they annihilate Israel, which they would have done very gladly, and then the Middle East, then they come after Europe and they come after some of our cities,” Trump said.
He said the United States is “doing really well with Iran.”
Earlier, Trump reassured the Israeli public about the latest escalation with Tehran.
“Israel should not worry. You know why? Because I’m the president and I will take care of Israel,” he told Israeli broadcaster KAN.
The remarks came amid a fresh flare-up that ended a roughly monthlong lull in fighting.
The United States struck rocket launchers on Iran’s Larak Island over the weekend. Tehran responded by launching missiles at Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
Trump’s statements fit a broader pattern of publicly asserting personal responsibility for Israel’s security, framing U.S. support for Tel Aviv as a personal guarantee rather than only a standing alliance.
“Without me, there would be no Israel,” he has repeatedly said.
White House envoy Steve Witkoff held discussions with the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser to coordinate a new economic offensive against Tehran, Axios reported Wednesday.
Witkoff met Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the brother of the UAE president and a deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi, on the Italian island of Sardinia.
The White House did not comment on the meeting.
The meeting took place days after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Operation Economic Outcast, a strategy intended to sever all financial lifelines to Tehran.
On the day of the meeting, the U.S. Treasury Department moved to disconnect UAE-based branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr from the U.S. financial system because of their ties to Iran.
The UAE recently decided to terminate all commercial and financial transactions with Tehran, a decision driven by looming U.S. secondary sanctions and repeated attacks from Iran, Axios reported.
An Iranian delegation visited Abu Dhabi on Aug. 11 seeking food aid and de-escalation.
The Iranian delegation also asked the UAE not to cooperate with U.S. sanctions, but Abu Dhabi rejected the request, according to Axios.
In the following days, as Iran intensified attacks on Emirati oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE grew furious and decided to suspend all business with Iran, sources told Axios.
Emirati officials reportedly emphasized to Washington that any pressure campaign must involve all of Tehran’s major trading partners to remain effective.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio directed American embassies to issue a formal demarche, demanding that host governments “immediately and systematically” sever trade ties with Iran.
Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding on June 18, 2026, aimed at ending hostilities and reopening the Strait of Hormuz to navigation.
The agreement later stalled amid differences over its implementation and the security of the waterway.
Clashes resumed in July, and Washington has since moved toward a broader campaign of military pressure and economic isolation.
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