The briefing came while the Trump administration’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were in Geneva holding nuclear talks with Iran.
US CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper makes an announcement aboard aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea February 7, 2026; illustrative.(photo credit: U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sonny Escalante/Handout via REUTERS)ByJAMES GENN Updated: United States Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Admiral Brad Cooper briefed US President Donald Trump on potential military options in Iran, sources familiar with the details told The Jerusalem Post on Friday.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine was also present, according to a second person familiar with the discussions, ABC News reported Thursday evening.
The briefing on military options took place after the nuclear talks in Geneva had already concluded.
The meeting indicates that Trump is approaching a critical decision point: whether nuclear talks with Iran still have a realistic chance, or whether a military option must be pursued.
US Vice President JD Vance speaks at Royalston Square in Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 22, 2026. (credit: JIM WATSON/POOL VIA REUTERS)
JD Vance: ‘No chance’ US will be in drawn-out Middle East war
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance stated that there is “no chance” that US strikes on Iran would result in Washington being drawn into a drawn-out war in the Middle East during a Thursday interview with The Washington Post.
Speaking aboard Air Force Two, Vance told the outlet that he does not know what Trump will decide, noting that possibilities include military strikes “to ensure Iran isn’t going to get a nuclear weapon,” or to solve “the problem diplomatically.”
“The idea that we’re going to be in a Middle Eastern war for years with no end in sight – there is no chance that will happen,” he told the outlet.
Additionally, Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi is due to meet with Vance and other US officials in Washington on Friday for talks “in an effort to stave off war with Iran,” MS NOW reported on Thursday night.
Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi meets with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner ahead of the indirect US-Iran talks, in Geneva, Switzerland, February 17, 2026. (credit: Oman’s Ministry Of Foreign Affairs/Handout via REUTERS)
US-Iran nuclear talks in Geneva went well, source tells ‘Post’
Cooper’s briefing came while the Trump administration’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were in Geneva holding nuclear talks with Iran.
Busaidi described the talks as having made “significant progress” and announced that more discussions will take place next week in Vienna.
A source familiar with the details told The Jerusalem Post that several issues were clarified during the second round of talks, which he described as positive, and work is continuing toward formulating an agreement.
Trump has amassed the largest buildup of American forces in the Middle East since 2003 to increase pressure on the Islamic Republic to reach a deal, with the open question being whether the two sides’ redlines can overlap just enough to avoid a broader war.
On Wednesday, the Postasked four major AI platforms when the US is likely to strike Iran.
Senior advisors to the Trump administration would prefer if Israel struck Iran first, as such a move would provide better optics and help muster voter support for a US strike, Politico reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the discussions.
“There’s thinking in and around the administration that the politics are a lot better if the Israelis go first and alone and the Iranians retaliate against us, and give us more reason to take action,” the sources told Politico.
The motivation behind the idea centers on Iran’s retaliation, the sources claimed, as “more Americans would stomach a war with Iran if the United States or an ally were attacked first.”
Meanwhile, 12 American F-22 Raptor fighter jets landed at an Israel Air Force base on Tuesday evening. Photographs of the jets were later published by the Chinese intelligence agency MizarVision on Thursday.
Amichai Stein, Yonah Jeremy Bob, Tobias Siegal, Shir Perets, Miriam Sela-Eitam, and Danya Saperstein contributed to this report.
US negotiators reportedly have demanded Iran must dismantle Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites and hand over enriched uranium, insisting any new deal must be permanent
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FILE – Wearing protective clothes, an Iranian security person visits a part of the Uranim Conversion Facility, just outside the city of Isfahan, Iran.Vahid Salemi / AP
Negotiations between the United States and Iran are ongoing in Geneva as both sides attempt to find a diplomatic solution to the escalating nuclear standoff. According to US officials speaking to the Wall Street Journal, American negotiators have made clear that Iran must dismantle its three main nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, and surrender its remaining enriched uranium to the United States.
The US team is also demanding that any agreement be permanent, rejecting the phased sunset provisions that allowed certain restrictions to lapse under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
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Republicans have long criticized the JCPOA as too weak, and President Donald Trump formally withdrew the United States from the deal during his first term, reinstating severe sanctions on Tehran.
Tensions remain high. President Trump has warned of military action if a deal is not reached, and US forces have been massed near Iran, including two aircraft carriers, advanced warplanes, destroyers, and missile defense systems. While the Americans are insisting on zero enrichment, they may allow Iran to restart a reactor in Tehran capable of very low-level enrichment for medical purposes.
At the same time, reports from The New York Times indicate that Iran is preparing a proposal designed to preserve a limited enrichment capability while offering President Trump a political victory.
Trump targets Iran in SOTU: Says Iran killed 32,000 protesters, trying to rebuild nuke
Four Iranian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the plan would suspend most nuclear activity for three to five years, after which Iran would join a regional nuclear consortium. The country would maintain only a minimal 1.5 percent enrichment level strictly for medical research, and its 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium would be diluted in phases. Access for International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors would be provided to monitor compliance at every stage.
Diplomats from both sides face the challenge of reconciling these positions. Tehran seeks to retain some nuclear capability, while Washington demands verifiable restrictions that leave no ambiguity about Iran’s long-term intentions. How these negotiations unfold could determine whether diplomacy can prevent a military confrontation in the region.
American F-22 fighter jets landed at an Israeli Air Force base on Tuesday evening amid rising tensions between the US and Iran.
US President Donald Trump, flanked by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick speaks during a press briefing at the White House, following the Supreme Court’s ruling that Trump had exceeded his authority when he imposed tariffs, in Washington, DC, US, February 20, 2026.(photo credit: REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE/FILE PHOTO)ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF Updated: US President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with the limits of US military leverage against Iran, according to CBS News, citing sources familiar with the matter.
This comes after aides told Trump that, unlike the recent operation removing leader Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, an operation in Iran would require more than one strike, according to the Monday CBS report. This could open the US up to a long-term military campaign in the Middle East, the report explained.
American F-22 fighter jets landed at an Israeli Air Force base on Tuesday evening amid rising tensions between the US and Iran, according to Walla‘s Amir Bohbot.
In particular, the WSJand Axios reported that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine opposed the war with Iran, a claim the president subsequently denied in a Truth Social post.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir meets with US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine at the IDF’s Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv, November 1, 2025. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)The WSJ noted that several Pentagon officials issued similar warnings to Caine, although the general was the chief among them.
According to Trump, General Caine “would [not like] to see war in Iran, but if a decision is made on going against Iran at a military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won.”
Trump still undecided between Iran attack scale, or potential deal, sources tell ‘Post’
Trump has not yet decided whether he wants a deal with Iran, or to launch a weeks-long war to topple the regime, or to launch a narrow attack to try to pressure Tehran into a deal more to his liking, sources indicated to The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
With massive amounts of fake news and speculation flooding the media, the Post understands that top American and Israeli officials are sometimes as ultimately as unsure about what Trump might do next as the general public.
One of the latest trends, which sources say has been discussed and is now being widely leaked to the media, is the possibility of Trump searching for a middle-ground decision, such as a narrow and short attack on the Islamic Republic.
