READ MORE: White House source reveals fears of a MAJOR defense vulnerability that few people are trackingSee more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy CHASE HOPE, POLITICAL REPORTER FOR THE DAILY MAIL Published: 17:44 BST, 23 July 2026 | Updated: 19:03 BST, 23 July 2026
Donald Trump said Thursday he was near to a decision on a massive escalation of attacks on Iran as oil hit its highest price in two months and Tehran-backed Houthi rebels opened a new front in the Red Sea.'I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before,' the President told Axios. 'I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it.'Trump added that Iran wanted a deal but had not yet felt 'enough pain' to properly negotiate. He did not say when he would finalize his decision.The Pentagon has flown a B-1 bomber over the region for the first time since the ceasefire collapsed and surged extra special operations forces into the area. A further 150 medics have been sent to the military hospital in Germany that treats US troops wounded in the Middle East.Israel would join the new strikes if he asked, Trump said, but he insisted their help was not needed.The President told Axios 'relations with Bibi [Netanyahu] are very good' and he would meet with the Israeli PM if he travels to Washington next week for Senator Lindsey Graham's wake.Oil surged past $100 a barrel for the first time since May 26 as Houthi rebels claimed two attacks on Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, threatening fresh disruption to the global energy supply chain. The attacks could cut off Saudi Arabia's alternative export route, analysts warn.Europe would be hit hardest if the Houthis succeed in choking Red Sea traffic, given its dependence on Saudi exports through the waterway. European supplies are already squeezed by Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries. US military planes fly in formation over the USS George HW Bush in a June 30 photo from CENTCOM Public Affairs Trump is under pressure at home to wrap up the war as Republicans facing crucial midterm elections in November fear a bloodbath if gas prices remain elevated and push inflation higher.Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was grilled in a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday, where even a Republican senator rebuked him for not giving 'straight answers' to questions.Hegseth testified that the cost of the war has already exceeded $37.5 billion, and the White House is asking Congress for even more than that in emergency war funding.Trump has made repeated threats against the Iranian regime, but since the collapse of the memorandum of understanding, the US has been unable to restore traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. As American confidence in the war wanes, four US soldiers were killed over the weekend, bringing the death toll to 18 since the war's beginning. Three died in an Iranian missile and drone attack on an air base in Jordan. One died after an attempted controlled detonation of an Iranian drone. More than 400 US troops have been wounded in the fighting.Nearly half of voters, 49 percent, now say launching military action in Iran was the wrong thing to do, according to a Daily Mail/JL Partners poll of 1,021 registered voters taken between July 17 and 20. Iran has launched a new front in its war with Donald Trump in the Middle East after the regime's proxy militants bombed oil tankers linked to US allies in the Red Sea The US has bombed Iranian radar and missile systems along the Strait of Hormuz for nearly two weeks after Trump's ceasefire collapsed
