Trump faces growing Capitol backlash over Iran war

Analysts increasingly see a broader effort to erode Tehran's military, economic and political capacity until negotiations become the less costly option.

President Donald Trump has oscillated between threatening "massive attacks" and calling for renewed negotiations with Tehran. According to Axios, he decided against another round of strikes on Friday despite military plans being ready to execute.

Whether the lull marks the beginning of diplomacy or merely an operational pause remains unclear. What appears more significant is how the campaign itself has evolved.

Military analyst and retired US Army officer John Spencer believes Washington's objectives now extend well beyond degrading Iran's immediate military capabilities.

Rather than seeking immediate regime change, he argues, the campaign is designed to convince Tehran's leadership that continuing the conflict will steadily erode its ability to govern, project military power and preserve the strategic leverage it has spent decades building, ultimately forcing Iran to negotiate from a position of growing weakness.

"The United States could do a lot more," Spencer told Eye for Iran. "This is about changing the regime's behavior."

The evolution is visible in the targets themselves. Early strikes focused overwhelmingly on Iran's ability to threaten shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, hitting coastal radar installations, anti-ship missile batteries, drone facilities and command-and-control centres.

More recently, however, the campaign has shifted inland toward bridges, railways, communications infrastructure and military logistics networks, particularly around Bandar Abbas.

Iran's largest commercial port and a key naval hub overlooking the Strait of Hormuz, Bandar Abbas has become increasingly isolated as transportation links and logistics infrastructure come under repeated attack.

For Spencer, that shift reflects an effort not simply to destroy weapons but to restrict Iran's ability to move forces, sustain military operations and eventually rebuild damaged capabilities.

"It could be beyond the battle of Hormuz," Spencer said. "It could be setting the conditions for future operations."

He argues the United States still retains considerable military, economic and cyber capabilities that have yet to be fully employed should Washington decide to intensify pressure further.

Regional balance shifts

Former Kuwaiti Information Minister Saad bin Tefla Al Ajmi believes the campaign has also altered Iran's wider strategic position.

He argues Tehran's regional network has suffered setbacks on multiple fronts. Hezbollah has been severely weakened, Syria no longer provides the strategic corridor it once did following Bashar al-Assad's fall, and repeated attacks have degraded Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

"Iran is now between two choices," Al Ajmi said. "The chalice of poison or suicide."

He also questioned whether Iran's increasingly fragmented decision-making structure could complicate any future negotiations.

"There is a fragmentation in the leadership in Iran now," he said. "Sometimes we have a problem of who to communicate with."

Military pressure has also coincided with a tightening domestic crackdown, with human rights groups reporting an increase in executions of protesters and political prisoners during the conflict.

Whether the two-night pause marks the beginning of diplomacy or simply the interval before another wave of strikes remains uncertain.

What the past fortnight has already revealed, however, is that Washington's objectives now appear to extend far beyond the Strait of Hormuz, towards reshaping the military and political calculations of Iran's leadership itself.

The report said Iran's nuclear infrastructure had already been heavily damaged by Israeli strikes and the US "Midnight Hammer" operation against its main enrichment sites, but that several facilities could still be considered targets.

"It appears that the bulk of the sites that were needed to make nuclear weapons have been hit," David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security and a former UN weapons inspector, told the newspaper.

"But Israel may know of new sites through intelligence, and there may be reason to strike old sites that are being rebuilt," he said.

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  Why Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain has become Trump’s next target

Pickaxe Mountain seen as top target

The Journal said Pickaxe Mountain, known in Iran as Mount Kolang, remains the most likely target because Israeli intelligence believes Iran moved thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into tunnels there after last year's 12-day war.

According to the report, the underground complex lies hundreds of feet beneath granite, making it difficult to destroy even with US bunker-busting bombs. Experts cited by the newspaper said Washington could instead strike tunnel entrances or other access points.

"Washington's clearest nonproliferation wins against Iran in the war were stopping all uranium enrichment at declared facilities and entombing enriched uranium stockpiles," Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told the Journal.

"The more time elapses, however, the more crucial Pickaxe mountain appears to Iran's reconstitution effort," he said.

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  Trump threat to hit Pickaxe renews calls in Iran for nuclear bomb, NPT exit

Other facilities could also be struck

The Journal said other potential targets include the Taleghan 2 facility at the Parchin military complex, which satellite imagery suggests Iran has been rebuilding, although experts differ over how much of the site survived previous Israeli strikes.

It also identified support facilities at Fordow, where above-ground buildings housing centrifuges and isotope-production equipment remain, as well as parts of the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, where satellite imagery has shown continued vehicle activity despite previous US missile strikes.

The report added that remaining buildings at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant could also be targeted if Washington expands its air campaign.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that he would order Ukrainian intelligence to provide partner countries with information showing that Russia had helped Iran prepare strikes against US military facilities and regional states.

“I will instruct our intelligence to share with our partners the information we have regarding Russia’s new assistance to the Iranian regime,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine had recorded active Russian satellite surveillance of Persian Gulf states and US military facilities there since the beginning of July.

He alleged that the resulting images were transferred to Iran and that Russian satellite activity closely corresponded with Iranian attacks—both before strikes, to assist preparations, and afterward, to assess the damage.

“On July 19 and 20 alone, four air bases fell within the area of interest of Russian satellites—two in Bahrain, one in Jordan, and one in Kuwait,” he said.

Zelenskyy did not publish evidence supporting the allegation. But his pledge to share Ukraine’s intelligence with its partners represents a potentially significant role for Kyiv in the US-led war against Iran, particularly given Ukraine’s experience tracking Russian surveillance systems and countering Iranian-designed drones.

CBS News reported that Zelenskyy planned to share evidence with the United States showing that Russia was assisting Iran in targeting US bases in the Middle East.

His allegation also directly challenges President Donald Trump’s recent assertion that he believed assurances from Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow was not assisting Tehran.

Rare Ukrainian attack on Iran vessel

Earlier Saturday, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had achieved “very strong results” with long-range attacks in the Caspian Sea.

He said the targets included a Russian warship and vessels used to transport military cargo involving Iran, but did not identify the ships, describe the weapons used or disclose the extent of the damage.

Iran later confirmed that an Iranian commercial vessel had been hit in the Caspian Sea.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the attack caused an explosion that killed one sailor and injured another. It condemned the strike as an act of aggression, said Iran would defend its national interests and accused Kyiv of attempting to expand the Russia-Ukraine war.

Tehran also summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires to protest what it described as a “hostile and criminal” attack, according to the Reuters report.

It was not immediately clear whether the Iranian vessel was one of the ships Zelenskyy said had been transporting military cargo.

Taken together, the Caspian strikes and the intelligence offer suggest Ukraine is treating the Russia-Iran partnership as a single military network operating across two wars.

Iranian-designed Shahed drones have played a major role in Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. Kyiv is now alleging that assistance also flows in the opposite direction, with Moscow using its satellite capabilities to support Iranian attacks on US and regional military facilities.

Reuters reported on July 22 that Iranian drone attacks on CIA facilities in the Persian Gulf have prompted US intelligence analysts to investigate whether Russia assisted by providing targeting information or ​advanced drone technology.

The report, citing informed sources, said US intelligence officials have ‌not yet reached firm conclusions about the possible Russian involvement in the attacks on CIA facilities. But they cited the strikes' effectiveness and apparent precision, as well as Russia's broader technical support for Iran, as possible evidence.

Ukraine has previously offered its drone-interception expertise to Middle Eastern countries facing Iranian attacks, drawing on years of experience defending against Shahed-type drones used by Russia.

Kyiv has also increasingly targeted the Caspian Sea as a military logistics corridor, despite its distance from the principal battlefields in Ukraine.

In August 2025, Ukraine said it struck the Russian-flagged cargo vessel Port Olya-4 at the port of Olya in Russia’s Astrakhan region. Kyiv alleged that it was carrying Iranian ammunition and components for Shahed-type drones.

Four months later, Ukrainian special forces said they attacked the Kompozitor Rakhmaninov and Askar-Sarydzha off Russia’s Kalmykia region. Ukraine said the sanctioned vessels had transported weapons and military equipment between Iran and Russia.

Iran has denied supplying weapons for use in Ukraine, while acknowledging that it provided Russia with a limited number of drones before Moscow’s 2022 invasion.

Saturday’s developments, however, point to a broader confrontation. Ukraine is not only seeking to disrupt Iranian assistance to Russia but is offering to help Washington and its regional partners expose—and potentially counter—Russian support for Tehran’s war effort.

“We’re talking to them right now,” Trump said Friday when asked whether Americans should expect major strikes. He said the United States could continue attacking Iran “piece by piece” or intensify the campaign “in a more rapid fashion,” while describing a negotiated agreement as the smarter option.

Trump said Iran appeared increasingly serious about reaching a deal but warned that negotiations could still fail. Any agreement, he said, must prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

His comments came after The New York Times reported that he had met senior advisers to consider intensifying US military operations against Iran. The discussions followed US Central Command’s announcement Thursday that it had completed a 13th consecutive night of strikes on Iranian military and maritime targets.

Persian Gulf states enter the fight

The Wall Street Journal reported that Bahrain and Kuwait secretly sent warplanes to strike drone- and missile-storage facilities and other military sites inside Iran in early July, marking their first direct retaliation against Tehran.

The United Arab Emirates provided intelligence and defensive air cover, according to the report. Bahrain and Kuwait both host US military bases and have repeatedly come under Iranian missile and drone attack.

Kuwait’s military said Friday that its air defenses were confronting “hostile” drones launched from Iran, while Bahrain said it had intercepted and destroyed several Iranian aerial attacks.

Iran also stepped up its warnings to countries supporting US military operations.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said countries that allowed the United States to use their bases or territory for attacks would place themselves “among the aggressors.”

Mediation channels

Pakistan and Oman were working to keep channels open between Washington and Tehran as fighting continued.

Pakistan was exploring a possible route to restart stalled US-Iran talks after a diplomatic push by China, three Pakistani sources told Reuters. They said major obstacles remained, including Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia and other regional states.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, meanwhile, accused Washington of a “breach of commitments” and “excessive demands” during a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart in Kyrgyzstan.

The Iranian and Omani foreign ministers also spoke by phone as an Omani delegation arrived in Tehran for talks on managing shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Maritime conflict spreads

Maritime tensions intensified across two of the region’s most important shipping routes.

The United States and Britain were planning a high-level meeting in London on forming an international coalition to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Washington was seeking allied contributions including de-mining vessels, naval ships and drones.

In the Red Sea, the Saudi vessel NCC Masa suffered minor hull damage in an attack but continued to its destination after checks confirmed that the ship and crew were safe. The incident came four days after the Iran-backed Houthis announced an immediate naval blockade on Saudi-linked shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

As fighting continued across the region, rhetoric from Tehran also pointed toward further escalation.

Major General Ali Abdollahi, commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said Iran would kill one American service member for every Iranian citizen killed in US attacks.

“For every proud citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran who is martyred, one American force will be sent to hell,” Abdollahi was quoted as saying by IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News.

He added that Iran had prepared “free, direct tickets to hell” for US troops.

The debate has grown louder as speculation mounts over whether the conflict could eventually require American ground forces, despite repeated White House assurances that no such deployment is planned.

Speaking to Iran International, Senator Ted Cruz called Trump's military campaign "the most consequential decision of his presidency" but said he did not expect a prolonged deployment of US ground troops.

"I do not believe there is any possibility that the president will send boots on the ground for any sustained involvement," he said. "There might be ... a limited involvement."

Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville likewise argued that decisions over troop deployments should rest entirely with Trump.

"We've got a commander in chief. He got 80 million votes," Tuberville told Iran International. "He should be able to do what's right for the country."

Asked whether he would support sending troops into Iran, Tuberville said the decision was "up to him."

Democrats challenge legality

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine argued that the administration had already exceeded its constitutional authority.

"The president is in the middle of an illegal war," Kaine told Iran International. "He violated the Constitution by starting war without Congress."

Kaine also said Trump had violated the War Powers Resolution by continuing military operations beyond the statutory deadline without congressional authorization.

"He is triply violating the law," Kaine said, adding that "Congress needs to stop this war."

The exchange highlighted a widening divide on Capitol Hill, where Republicans argue the campaign is necessary to restore deterrence and Democrats counter that any deployment of US ground troops requires explicit congressional authorization.

The Senate this week voted narrowly against advancing legislation that would have required congressional authorization for continued hostilities, leaving Trump with broad operational freedom even as the political debate over the next phase of the conflict intensifies.

The debate has sharpened as the conflict enters a more dangerous phase.

Trump said this week he was considering a "massive attack" against Iran larger than previous operations while insisting no final decision had been made. The White House has continued to maintain that it has no plans to deploy US ground troops.

Iran has responded with threats of its own.

On Friday, Major General Abdolrahim Abdollahi, commander of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, declared that Iran would kill one American service member for every Iranian citizen killed in US attacks.

"The rule ... is now a definitive and officially declared equation of the battlefield," he said.