U.S. media reported on the 31st (local time) that the United States and Israel are planning one of the most powerful airstrike operations ever this weekend against Iran's energy infrastructure. U.S. President Donald Trump also reiterated a strong will to carry out airstrikes against Iran.
Local broadcaster CBS, citing multiple sources, reported the U.S.-Israeli attack plan for this weekend. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing U.S. officials, then reported that "President Trump has ordered a new attack to force Iran to submit, and the attack will begin this weekend and continue for several days."
Iran, in response, warned about the possibility of a U.S. weekend attack, saying, "We have prepared a comprehensive response plan to the United States' reckless actions."
A senior Iranian security official told Tasnim News Agency, "What U.S. media have claimed about a potential attack by the United States and the Zionist regime (Israel) is a kind of madness," adding, "We have prepared a broad response plan that includes not only the Zionist regime's core infrastructure but also U.S. energy infrastructure in the region, and we are fully ready for it."
WSJ assessed that deepening distrust between the two sides makes it difficult to find a diplomatic breakthrough. President Trump has expressed frustration that Iran repeatedly fails to keep its promises to negotiate.
That day, at a Cabinet meeting at Camp David in Maryland, President Trump had signaled large-scale airstrikes against Iran. He said, "We will hit them very hard," adding, "At some point they (Iran) will say, 'We can't take it anymore.'"
Trump said that negotiations with Iran had been taking place since the 24th and suspended airstrikes. Then, when Iran carried out a surprise preemptive strike on a U.S. base in Jordan on the 28th, the U.S. military conducted retaliatory airstrikes on the 29th.
If the United States resumes airstrikes on Aug. 1, the Iran war is highly likely to expand into an all-out war. In particular, if Israel strikes Iran alongside the United States, it would mark a return to direct participation in the Iran war after a month and a half. Israel had not joined airstrikes against Iran since the United States and Iran signed an end-of-war MOU.
Earlier, President Trump threatened on social media that each time a ship is attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, he would bomb and destroy Iran's bridges or power plants.