Pentagon tells Central Command to finish preparations for renewed strikes on Iran

The Pentagon instructed US Central Command several days ago to conclude preparations for resuming major combat operations in Iran, US officials said¹. The directive did not include a specific date for launching strikes, and President Trump has not made any final decisions¹. US and Israeli sources said the strikes could come before the US midterm elections, and possibly before the Israeli elections a week earlier¹. Reports that the US military had been told to prepare for a resumption of strikes circulated through Thursday^2,3.

If major combat operations resume, they are expected to include massive bombing of Iranian energy, infrastructure and nuclear targets, the same sources said¹. A separate account of the reporting described the instruction as an order for Central Command to be ready for a renewed large-scale attack⁴. Axios, which reported the directive, said resuming the war in the next three to four weeks could influence the midterm elections¹.

The talks Trump says he does not want

Trump said he does not think a deal with Iran is something he wants to do⁷. He also said that Steve Witkoff, his special envoy to the Middle East, is “doing very well” while working on a potential agreement with Iran^5,6. Outlets carried the two statements together: one reported that Trump says he does not “really want” a peace deal as the US prepares to resume strikes⁶, another that he downplayed a deal as the US readies renewed attacks⁵. One report said Trump is weighing fresh strikes before the midterms alongside a push on pump prices⁸.

What it means for investors

The prospect of a second round of operations was read as a market event rather than a diplomatic one: one account tied the possibility of renewed major combat operations in Iran to a global stock selloff⁹. The same account carried charts from James Pomeroy and his team at HSBC showing that consumer sentiment has plummeted despite a rising stock market⁹. That is the political backdrop the sources attach to the timing: a war decision taken with household confidence already weak^8,9.

For now the sources describe the pressure as financial rather than physical. One market note put the effect on secondary-sanctions risk for buyers and insurers, and on freight complications, rather than any immediate change to physical flows, and pointed to premia attached to cargoes without giving a figure⁷. None of the reports in this set names a target date, a decision, or a volume of oil at risk, and the Pentagon directive as described sets readiness, not an attack^1,4. The one dated precedent the sources offer is the Iran war of June 2025, during which the US also bombed key Iranian nuclear sites².