WASHINGTON: Some advisors within the inner circle of US President Donald Trump are expressing “buyer’s remorse” over the decision to launch military action against Iran, amid concerns the administration underestimated Tehran’s resilience, according to a report by Axios published on Monday.
The report, citing several officials familiar with internal discussions, said some key advisors in the administration had been hesitant about the timing of the campaign or wanted more time before initiating military operations.
One source, cited by Axios, said that Trump brushed aside such hesitation before launching the campaign, saying: “I just want to do it.”
The source added that Trump had been encouraged by previous military successes, including strikes on Iran last summer and the January capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, which led him to believe the Iranian regime could be toppled without deploying ground troops.
“He was high on his own supply,” the source told Axios.
War expected to last longer
According to the Axios report, US officials initially expected the military operation to last four to six weeks.
However, officials in Washington and allied capitals are now preparing for a longer crisis.
Three sources told Axios that US involvement could extend until September, even if the conflict moves into a lower-intensity phase.
US-Israeli strikes against Iran began on February 28 and have reportedly killed about 1,300 people, including Iran’s then supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Fourteen US service members have also been killed since the beginning of the war.
The report said the administration now finds itself in what analysts describe as an “escalation trap” in the Strait of Hormuz, where the stronger side feels compelled to keep striking in order to demonstrate superiority even as strategic gains diminish.
A senior administration official told Axios that Iranian interference with shipping in the strait was making Trump “more dug in” rather than prompting a reassessment of the strategy.
Oil market risks misjudged
The report also said Trump and some of his advisors underestimated the risks the war posed to global energy markets.
In the lead-up to the conflict, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said he was not concerned that war with Iran could disrupt oil supplies in the Middle East.
Speaking on February 18, Wright said previous US and Israeli strikes against Iran the previous year had caused little disruption in energy markets.
“Oil prices blipped up and then went back down,” he said at the time.
Some other administration officials privately dismissed warnings that Iran could retaliate economically by disrupting shipping routes that carry about 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply.
However, those assumptions were challenged in recent days as Iran threatened to attack commercial tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint linking the Arabian Gulf to global markets.
Commercial shipping in the Gulf has since largely halted, while oil prices have surged and fuel costs have increased.
The Trump administration has been scrambling to manage the economic fallout, including working on policies aimed at easing fuel prices in the United States.
Pentagon caught off guard
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged that Iran’s response had been more aggressive than expected.
“I can’t say that we anticipated necessarily that’s exactly how they would react, but we knew it was a possibility,” Hegseth told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.
“I think it was a demonstration of the desperation of the regime,” he added.
Iran has launched missile and drone attacks against US military bases and Israeli targets and has also targeted locations across the Middle East, according to US officials.
After a closed-door briefing for lawmakers, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said the administration had no clear strategy to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Posting on social media, Murphy said officials “do not know how to get it safely back open”.
White House defends strategy
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected criticism of the administration’s planning.
She said the government had a “strong game plan” before the war began and argued that disruptions in energy markets were temporary.
“The purposeful disruption in the oil market by the Iranian regime is short term and necessary for the long-term gain of wiping out these terrorists and the threat they pose to America and the world,” she said in a statement.
Trump has also expressed frustration with disruptions to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, urging oil tanker crews to continue sailing through the waterway.
Speaking to Fox News, the president said crews should “show some guts” and transit the strait despite the risks.
US forces have already struck Iranian vessels suspected of mine-laying operations.
The US military said it had attacked 16 such vessels near the strait as part of efforts to keep the waterway open.
Pentagon officials also revealed during congressional briefings that the US military spent $5.6 billion worth of munitions during the first two days of the conflict alone, according to congressional officials cited in the report.
