The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, two U.S. officials told Reuters, in what could become a far more serious conflict than previously seen between the countries.

The disclosure by the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the planning, raises the stakes for the diplomacy underway between the United States and Iran.

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will hold negotiations with Iran on Tuesday in Geneva, with representatives from Oman acting as mediators. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned on Saturday that while Trump’s preference was to reach a deal with Tehran, “that’s very hard to do.”

Meanwhile, Trump has amassed military forces in the region, raising fears of new military action. U.S. officials said on Friday the Pentagon was sending an additional aircraft carrier to the Middle East, adding thousands more troops along with fighter aircraft, guided-missile destroyers and other firepower capable of waging attacks and defending against them.

Trump, speaking on Friday after a military event at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, openly floated the possibility of changing the government in Iran, saying it “seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.” He declined to share who he wanted to take over Iran, but said, “there are people.”

“For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking,” Trump said.

Trump has long voiced skepticism about sending ground troops into Iran, saying last year, “the last thing you want to do is ground forces,” and the kinds of U.S. firepower arrayed in the Middle East so far suggest options for strikes primarily by air and naval forces. In Venezuela, Trump demonstrated a willingness to rely also on special operations forces to seize that country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, in a raid last month.

Asked for comment on the preparations for a potentially sustained U.S. military operation, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: “President Trump has all options on the table with regard to Iran.”

“He listens to a variety of perspectives on any given issue, but makes the final decision based on what is best for our country and national security,” Kelly said.

The Pentagon declined to comment.

The United States sent two aircraft carriers to the region last year, when it carried out strikes against Iranian nuclear sites.

However, June’s “Midnight Hammer” operation was essentially a one-off U.S. attack, with stealth bombers flying from the United States to strike Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran staged a very limited retaliatory strike on a U.S. base in Qatar.

The planning under way this time is more complex, the officials said.

In a sustained campaign, the U.S. military could hit Iranian state and security facilities, not just nuclear infrastructure, one of the officials said. The official declined to provide specific details.

Experts say the risks to U.S. forces would be far greater in such an operation against Iran, which boasts a formidable arsenal of missiles. Retaliatory Iranian strikes also increase the risk of a regional conflict.

The same official said the United States fully expected Iran to retaliate, leading to back-and-forth strikes and reprisals over time.

The White House and Pentagon did not respond to questions about the risks of retaliation or regional conflict.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and crushing of internal dissent. On Thursday, he warned the alternative to a diplomatic solution would “be very traumatic, very traumatic.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has warned that in case of strikes on Iranian territory, it could retaliate against any U.S. military base.

The U.S. maintains bases throughout the Middle East, including in Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Trump for talks in Washington on Wednesday, saying that if an agreement with Iran were reached, “it must include the elements that are vital to Israel.”

Iran has said it is prepared to discuss curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions, but has ruled out linking the issue to missiles.

On Saturday, Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi said U.S. military intervention in Iran could save lives and urged Washington not to spend too long negotiating with Tehran’s clerical rulers on a nuclear deal.

The exiled son of Iran’s toppled shah told Reuters in an interview there were signs that the Iranian government was on the brink of collapse and that an attack could weaken it or accelerate its fall.

“We are hoping that this attack will expedite the process and the people can be finally back in the streets and take it all the way to the ultimate regime’s downfall,” said Pahlavi, who is based in the United States and has lived outside Iran since before his father was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Don Durfee, Rosalba O’Brien, Rod Nickel)

The U.S. military conducted another lethal strike on Friday against a suspected drug‑smuggling vessel in the Caribbean, killing three, the latest in a concerted campaign under Operation Southern Spear to disrupt narcotics trafficking networks that transport deadly drugs toward the United States.

According to U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), Gen. Francis L. Donovan directed Joint Task Force Southern Spear to carry out a “lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” adding that no U.S. military personnel were harmed in the operation. Video accompanying the announcement shows the boat steaming along known narco routes just before it is struck and destroyed.

This strike marks the fourth publicly disclosed operation in 2026, following an earlier attack this week in the Eastern Pacific that killed two and left one survivor. Since Southern Spear began operations in September 2025, there have been 39 confirmed engagements in both the Pacific and Caribbean.

On Feb. 13, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known… pic.twitter.com/y50Pbtexfi

— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) February 14, 2026

The impact of these strikes against multiple vessels moving along established smuggling corridors has forced cartel networks to adjust their operations, according to statements by Defense officials. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth previously posted that “some top cartel drug‑traffickers” have chosen to “cease all narcotics operations INDEFINITELY” in response to the “highly effective” multilateral crackdown.

Southern Spear targets suspected traffickers in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, regions notoriously used by transnational cartels to transport heroin, cocaine, fentanyl, and precursor chemicals up to the U.S. mainland. SOUTHCOM has described the vessels it strikes as linked to designated terrorist organizations and engaged in narco‑trafficking, although it has not publicly disclosed the identities of the groups involved.

Support for the operation has come from high levels of the Trump administration, which has framed the maritime strikes as part of a broader confrontation with narco‑terror and cartel networks that operate with impunity in the Western Hemisphere. Officials argue that the lethal pressure is longstanding justice for families ravaged by drugs and a stark deterrent to traffickers who have specialized in moving product toward U.S. streets.

The Southern Spear campaign has unfolded against the backdrop of an even broader security offensive aimed at narcotics networks and destabilizing forces in the region. On January 3, 2026, U.S. Special Forces executed a complex nighttime raid in Caracas that resulted in the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, whom U.S. officials have charged with drug trafficking and narco‑terrorism.

The Caracas operation, involving elite units such as Delta Force, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and support from over 150 aircraft, demonstrated a willingness by the U.S. military to confront narco‑state threats directly, and not just at sea.

The campaign in Venezuela has been justified by U.S. leaders as part of an effort to dismantle the infrastructure used by cartels, particularly groups allied with or operating out of Venezuela. Hegseth and other officials have linked Caracas’ regime and associated networks to the flow of drugs that fuels the opioid crisis in the United States. The capture of Maduro and his extradition to New York to face federal charges further ties the regional narcotics fight to broader national security and law enforcement priorities.

The combination of maritime strikes and high‑profile operations like the Venezuela raid reflects a multi‑domain pressure campaign aimed at disrupting narcotics infrastructure at every level. By striking at both the transportation networks on the seas and leadership figures linked to narco‑trafficking in the region, cartels and allied networks no longer enjoy safe passage or sanctuary.

According to the Trump administration, each successful strike degrades traffickers’ operational capabilities and expands deterrence across the hemisphere. As the Southern Spear campaign continues, the decisive actions reflect a unified strategy to choke off cocaine, fentanyl, and other illicit flows at their source, hitting traffickers where they are most vulnerable: on the sea, in leadership echelons, and in allied networks that have long benefitted from weak enforcement.