Trump rejected aggressive plan to open Hormuz — report

US President Donald Trump rejected a more aggressive plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in favor of the current operation being conducted by the American military, Axios reports.

Trump was frustrated with the stalemate in which there was no war but no agreement to end the fighting, according to the report.

On Thursday night, US CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper presented a plan to open the passage being blocked by Iran by force, says a US official. The US would have sent Navy vessels through the strait, would have struck any missiles or boats launched by Iran, and would have returned to war if Iran attacked Gulf countries.

At the last minute, however, Trump chose a more careful plan: a “humanitarian” mission to help extract ships trapped in the strait. The current operation does not include naval escorts of those ships. Instead, US ships, aircraft and 15,000 troops are in the area and ready to assist if Iran attacks.

Today, two US ships transited through the strait, CENTCOM said.

Still, concedes a source close to Trump, the operation is the “beginning of a process that could lead to a confrontation with the Iranians.”

“If the Iranians do something, they will be the bad guys and we will have the legitimacy to act,” says the source.

At the same time, diplomatic attempts to find a deal continue behind the scenes.

“There are talks,” says a senior US official. “There are offers. We don’t like theirs. They don’t like ours. We still don’t know the status of [Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei]. And they’re carrying messages by hand to caves or wherever he or whoever is hiding. It slows the process down.”

Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is pushing Trump to keep pursuing a diplomatic solution and is bullish about the chances for a deal, according to several US officials.

“It’s either we’re looking at the real contours of an achievable deal soon,” says the senior US official, “or he’s going to bomb the hell out of them.”