Illustrative image. (U.S. Central Command)
The United States military is considering renaming the war with Iran “Operation Sledgehammer” if the ceasefire collapses and President Donald Trump decides to restart major combat operations, NBC News reported on May 12, citing two American officials.
A White House official familiar with the discussions told the news channel that the new military operations against Iran would be conducted under a new name and operation.
From the administration’s point of view, the new operation name would effectively restart the 60-day clock requiring congressional authorization for war, according to the channel.
The report notes, however, that Operation Sledgehammer is not the only codename under consideration by the U.S. military currently.
NBC News’ report is a very strong sign that the U.S. could resume the war on Iran very soon. As the channel noted, picking the name for the operation is not just a superficial procedure, but rather a very important step directly linked to the legal aspect of the war.
Efforts led to Pakistan to end the war got stuck once again after the U.S. rejected another proposal submitted by Iran over the weekend.
Speaking to reporters before taking off for a high-stakes trip to China, Trump warned that if Iran doesn’t accept his terms for a deal to end the war and address its nuclear program, the U.S. will “finish the job.”
“They’ll either do the right thing, or we’ll finish the job,” Trump said.
The U.S. president went on to reject the idea that rising prices in the U.S. pushed him to seek an end to the war on the Islamic Republic.
“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situations,” he said. “I think about one thing: we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.”
Trump also stressed once again that “the most important thing by far is Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” adding that the U.S. will win.
“Every American understands it. If the stock market goes up or down a little bit, the American people understand it,” he said, adding that the U.S. will “win it one way or the other. We’ll win it peacefully or otherwise.”
Trump also claimed that Iran agreed that they will never have nuclear weapons “and then that’s not what they sent to me. We don’t play games.”
“We have Iran very much under control,” Trump insisted. “We are either gonna make a deal or they will be decimated.”
Trump’s remarks are another sign that the U.S. will soon resume the war. In fact, it would make perfect sense for Trump to not take such a decision before visiting China, which has close relations with Iran. Resuming the war on the Islamic Republic before could jeopardize the visit.
All in all, it is very possible that the war will resume by the end of the week as Trump is set to return from China within two to three days online.
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