America just finished its strike plans for Iran and Trump could approve one within days

The US military has a stack of plans ready to go. Strike plans. Against Iran. And they're just sitting there, waiting for Donald Trump to say yes.

Central Command put the options together for Pete Hegseth, the US defence chief, to look at. The Hill broke this story a day ago, using people familiar with the planning. Al Jazeera has confirmed it too. The plans exist. The decision sits with the White House.

So what does the Pentagon actually say about it? A Pentagon official told The Hill something simple: the Defense Department's job is to develop and present military options to the President. Nothing more. No comment on any specific plan.

And Donald Trump isn't staying quiet either. A day ago he said the US could strike Iran as soon as tomorrow. But he also left the door open for a deal. He called it a 'big, beautiful' agreement, if Iran wants one. Two days ago, at a rally in Florida, he said Washington 'may do another little Epic Fury'. That's a callback to the US-Israel campaign against Iran that kicked off on 28 February this year.

Here's the thing. This isn't new inside the Pentagon.

Three weeks ago, Axios reported that the Pentagon had already told Central Command to get ready for a possible return to full combat operations against Iran. What's on the target list? Iran's energy facilities. Its infrastructure. Its nuclear sites.

And it isn't just America planning this.

The New York Times reported this week that the US and Israel have drawn up joint plans together. A short but intensive operation, they're calling it. Timed for after the US midterm elections on 3 November. Earlier this week, Pete Hegseth flew to Israel for a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, that nobody announced beforehand. Renewed strikes were on the table.

Benjamin Netanyahu has said removing Iran's government is still Israel's main goal. He's got his own election in two days, and his support is sliding in the polls.

Now the intelligence side. A memo from Jay Clayton, the Director of National Intelligence, went to Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State. It said Iran has sharply increased its efforts to target American staff. Some of those plots, the memo said, have reached advanced stages.

And the US has already reacted. In the two to three days since, the State Department pulled non-essential staff out of the US embassy in Saudi Arabia. Staffing got cut at embassies in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the UAE too.

The US is also moving real firepower into place. Four to five days ago, the Pentagon sent a third aircraft carrier strike group, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, plus the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. That's roughly 10,000 more troops in the Middle East by the end of November.

Iran isn't sitting still either. Its army says it shot down an American-developed drone, a LUCAS model, over the port city of Bandar Abbas earlier today. That's according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. The US hasn't confirmed it. And Reuters has reported, citing Iranian security officials, that Iran has its own plan ready too — to hit undersea communications cables in the Gulf if the US and Israel strike again.

Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran's President, says Washington is the one derailing the negotiations. But he also says efforts toward a deal should keep going. That's according to Al Jazeera's reporting.

So what do the people watching this closely think?

Julie Norman, an associate fellow at Chatham House, told Al Jazeera that the strike planning is both short-term posturing and a real option for after the midterms. She warned of a very high risk of rapid escalation.

Mohamad Elmasry, who teaches at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in Qatar, told Al Jazeera the signals point toward renewed fighting, not a breakthrough.

Here's what nobody knows yet. Which option Trump might actually pick. When he might pick it. How ready Iran's own forces really are right now.

The war that started with Operation Epic Fury in February never actually ended. It's eight months old. And both sides are now making moves that say neither one has ruled out starting it again, in full.