Iran is preparing for more serious conflict with US - WSJ
Photo: Iran is preparing its forces for an expanded war and higher costs for the United States (Getty Images)
In mid-June, the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding that temporarily halted hostilities. However, Iran has spent this entire period preparing for the possibility that the conflict will resume — and be more serious, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Sources say that after US President Donald Trump signed the memorandum in June, administration officials traveled to various locations to rally support for the agreement, which they believed would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
However, Iran’s hard-line leaders gathered in Tehran and developed a different plan. In their view, the agreement was likely merely an attempt by the United States and Israel to ease pressure on the global economy and buy time for a larger attack in the future.
Instead of relying on negotiations, Iran’s leaders have therefore spent the past several months preparing for a more serious conflict.
Their efforts include giving the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps greater control over the country’s regular military, appointing battle-hardened veterans of the Iran-Iraq War and past domestic crackdowns to key positions, expanding domestic counterintelligence operations, and ramping up missile and drone production.
In addition, the leadership quickly seized the initiative by attacking ships to strengthen Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz and expanding the battlefield into the Red Sea, which Saudi Arabia had used to bypass Iran’s blockade of the Persian Gulf.
According to sources, Arab intelligence services have obtained evidence, including communications between Iran and its allied armed groups in Yemen and Iraq, indicating a strategic shift among the country’s hard-line leadership.
Based on this intelligence, Iran is preparing its forces to expand the war and increase the costs for the United States. Iranian leaders, alarming weaker Gulf states such as Kuwait, are increasingly talking about conducting offensive operations on enemy territory.
Tehran’s main goal is to inflict enough serious damage on its adversary to ensure that attacks like those Iran experienced during the 12-day war in 2025, as well as the ongoing conflict, do not happen again.
The WSJ writes that Iran's preparations point to a huge gap between how Washington and Tehran perceive this stage of the war. This divergence has led to a tough negotiating stance and an unwillingness by Iran’s leadership to make deals, repeatedly putting Donald Trump in a difficult position.
Conflict in the Middle East
The Washington Post recently reported growing dissatisfaction with Washington among US allies in the Persian Gulf. The countries are increasingly concerned that Trump cannot deliver on diplomatic efforts to achieve peace with Iran.
We also reported that Donald Trump recently said he plans to declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory in the near future. In Iran, however, his remarks were mocked, with officials saying it is impossible to take control of the strait through a post on social media.
