President Donald Trump has ordered the US military to carry out a new attack on Iran as soon as this weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The strikes are intended to convince Tehran to surrender, according to the newspaper, which cited unnamed US officials.
The report comes hours after Trump cast doubt on continued negotiations with Iran, repeating threats to retaliate forcibly after an attack on a US base in Jordan.
“We’ll be hitting them very hard,” the president said during a Cabinet meeting Friday. “And at some point they’ll say we just can’t take it anymore.”
CBS reported separately that the US is considering striking energy infrastructure, including oil refineries and power plants, which would mark a major escalation in the military campaign. Deliberate bombing of civilian targets could be considered war crimes, according to advocacy groups.
