US President Donald Trump has said that he would decide ‘soon’ on whether to resume the war on Iran following a meeting with his top national security advisers.
“Now we will make a decision,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
‘Do we want to go further’ with strikes to ensure Iran’s nuclear programme is over and that ‘it will never happen again?’, he added.
“I would rather not destroy the rest of the country if possible, but maybe I will have to. You’ll know soon enough.”
Trump held meetings at the White House to discuss the resumption of military operations, according to senior officials who spoke to US media.
While the US Central Command continues its military preparations, Qatari mediators are advancing a draft agreement aimed at fostering confidence between Washington and Tehran.
The president, at least for now, is considering three options: launch new strikes, continue to strangle Iran’s regime economically, or cut a deal that includes significant concessions to the Iranians, reported Axios.
Trump also said Iran could not do anything regarding its nuclear programme without US approval.
“They’re not doing anything without our approval,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in response to a question regarding a set of proposals made to Iran by mediators about the future of its nuclear programme.
The Amir of Qatar, Shaikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, meanwhile, held a phone call with Trump to discuss Doha’s mediation efforts aimed at reaching a comprehensive agreement to end the regional crisis, a Qatari statement said.
Trump separately named trusted aide Stephen Miller as his chief of staff, giving the architect of some of his toughest domestic policies one of the most powerful jobs in Washington after Republicans lost control of Congress.
Miller, who will replace Susie Wiles, assumes the role as the president prepares to confront a Democratic-led House of Representatives and Senate and a wave of congressional investigations into his administration.
A long-time proponent of expansive presidential authority, Miller takes over at a moment when the Republican Party’s defeat in Tuesday’s midterm elections could leave Trump more reliant on executive power to advance his domestic agenda.
In a social media post, Trump called Miller ‘one of my most trusted advisers’, and he praised Wiles for doing ‘an outstanding job’.
Trump said the change would take effect on Monday.
A White House official said Miller’s appointment signals that Trump has no intention of rethinking his policies and instead is rewarding his most loyal aides.
“He’s not changing course,” the official said, despite tens of millions of American voters this week repudiating Trump’s domestic agenda and foreign policy.
While Trump said this week he was willing to work with Democrats on Capitol Hill, the elevation of Miller, known for being uncompromising, could suggest a more confrontational approach and push to advance the president’s agenda, several White House officials said.
Trump had been displeased with his political and communications operations in the run-up to the election as his public approval ratings fell near record lows.
This week, he said the White House needed to be ‘more aggressive’ as Democrats retake congressional power, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Miller, 41, is one of Trump’s longest-serving aides and is one of few who served throughout his first and second terms in office.
Since Trump’s return to the White House in 2025, Miller has officially served as deputy chief of staff under Wiles, but he has wielded outsize influence across much of Trump’s domestic agenda and has had the president’s ear.
He is perhaps best known for driving Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown, setting a target of 3,000 arrests a day.
In pursuit of that target, federal immigration agents expanded their list of targets to include migrants who had been living in the US for decades.
He was also deeply involved in Trump’s campaign to remake the federal bureaucracy, which led to the dismissal of tens of thousands of civil servants in 2025. He was also a driving force behind the administration’s battles with universities, diversity programmes and other institutions.
Hakeem Jeffries, who is set to become the new Democratic speaker of the House, responded to the announcement of Miller’s promotion by calling him a ‘reckless extremist’ in a posting on X.
The chief of staff typically wields great influence as the president’s gatekeeper. The person manages White House staff, organises the president’s time and schedule, and maintains contact with other government departments and legislators.
Wiles, 69, who submitted her resignation on Thursday night, will move to Trump’s political operation, according to a White House official.
The veteran political operative from Florida was the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff.
Two top officials at the US Department of Justice resigned, accelerating an exodus of senior figures from the department following the midterm elections, in which President Donald Trump’s Republicans lost control of Congress.
The departures of John Eisenberg, who headed the DOJ’s National Security Division, and Jason Reding Quiñones, who pursued probes into past criminal investigations of Trump, follow the resignation of civil rights unit chief Harmeet Dhillon on Thursday. The DOJ is now without leaders for two of its signature initiatives – relitigating past investigations and targeting higher education.
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