Donald Trump is weighing up one of his biggest decisions — whether to launch air strikes on Iran — following weeks of turmoil in his foreign policy team, including the sacking of national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Fox News and other conservative media outlets watched by the US president are offering advice.
But who is Trump listening to in the Oval Office, where he will decide whether to go to war? His closest advisers are two of the president’s potential successors, JD Vance and Marco Rubio, property developer-turned-envoy Steve Witkoff, and CIA director John Ratcliffe.
On the sidelines is Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence. Defence secretary Pete Hegseth appears less influential than General Dan Caine, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and General Michael Kurilla, commander of the US military in the Middle East.
The inner circle
JD Vance
As recently as March, the 40-year-old vice-president — a sceptic of US military interventionism throughout his short political career — was privately warning that it would be a “mistake” for America to strike Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
But by this week, Vance — who has regular one-on-one contact with Trump and is considered the frontrunner for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination — was rationalising a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“Of course, people are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy. But I believe the president has earned some trust on this issue,” he wrote on X.
Marco Rubio
The former Florida senator, 54, has rapidly gained Trump’s ear on foreign policy in the early months of his second term. Rubio is not only secretary of state, but also replaced Waltz as national security adviser, making him a permanent fixture in the White House.
Rubio is traditionally hawkish on US foreign interventions, but has adapted to Trump’s supposedly more guarded approach.
Of the cabinet secretaries, he has the biggest national political profile and could potentially be a rival to Vance in 2028. For now, he has been working the phones with foreign ministers around the world to keep them informed of Trump’s shifting views on Iran.
Steve Witkoff
Steve Witkoff, 68, has known Trump for decades as a fellow New York property developer, business partner and golfer.
But despite his scant diplomatic experience, Trump has tasked Witkoff with leading negotiations on America’s most sensitive international issues. Among them is Ukraine: Witkoff has travelled to Moscow and held talks with President Vladimir Putin about ending Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.
As Mideast envoy, he has led the US delegation negotiating with Tehran over the past two months, and is still in touch with Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister. If Trump strikes a late deal to avert war with Iran, Witkoff’s role will be crucial. But he is working without his former deputy, Morgan Ortagus, who recently left the administration.
The hawks
John Ratcliffe
When Trump convened his top advisers on Iran at Camp David this month, it was CIA chief John Ratcliffe who delivered the most worrying assessment of Tehran’s intentions.
Ratcliffe, 59, is a well-known Iran hawk, dating back to his time as director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term.
In a recent closed session with lawmakers, he compared Iran’s nuclear ambitions to that of an American football team that was marching down the field and close to scoring, according to The Washington Post. “It’s like saying a football team marched 99 yards down the field, got to the one yard line,” he reportedly said.
Michael Kurilla
US army general Michael Kurilla — known as “Erik” and nicknamed “The Gorilla” — is leaving his post as commander of US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, this summer after three years. But Kurilla’s influence on Trump’s thinking is far from waning.
In fact, the California-born general who served in Mosul, Iraq is among the most influential voices within the administration on Iran, given that he would be directing any operation alongside Israel to destroy Tehran’s nuclear capabilities. He is known to be close to the Israeli military.
Mike Huckabee
As he swerved towards launching a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities this week, Trump posted a message from Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, on Truth Social. It said that no president had been “in a position like yours . . . since Truman in 1945”: a reference to the US leader who authorised the nuclear bombs on Japan at the end of the second world war in the Pacific.
“You did not seek this moment. This moment sought YOU!” Huckabee told Trump. He added: “I believe you will hear from heaven and that voice is far more important than mine or ANYONE else’s.”
Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, is not only ardently pro-Israel, but represents Trump’s evangelical Christian base. It is hawkish on Iran, and is pushing the president to get involved on Israel’s side.
The loyalists
Dan Caine
General Dan Caine, 56, was plucked out of retirement by Trump to replace General CQ Brown as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, or America’s top military officer and adviser to the president.
An Air Force pilot nicknamed “Razin”, Caine patrolled the skies of Washington in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and then served in Iraq.
But the main trait that endeared him to Trump has been his loyalty, at a time when the president is not only considering new military action in the Middle East but also greater use of US troops domestically to quash protests and enforce his immigration crackdown.
“I love you, sir. I think you’re great, sir. I’ll kill for you, sir,” Caine said to Trump, according to the president’s account of their meeting in 2018.
Pete Hegseth
The 45-year-old former Fox News host barely survived his confirmation vote in the US Senate, and struggled to remain in his job after posting sensitive information about military operations in Yemen on a Signal group chat that was shared with a reporter.
But Hegseth is still in charge of the Pentagon, even though the military leaders appear to be advising Trump more closely on strategy. The defence secretary insists that he is presenting Trump with all the plans and options he needs to make his final decision on US involvement.
“At the defence department, our job is to stand ready and prepared with options. And that’s precisely what we’re doing,” he said this week at a hearing on Capitol Hill.
The outlier
Tulsi Gabbard
The former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii became a Trump ally during the 2024 campaign, as he tried to woo disaffected leftwing voters to his cause — not least with his vow to end the era of America’s “forever wars”.
But after securing the high-profile job of director of national intelligence, Gabbard, 44, is already in hot water with the administration and has been openly rebuked by Trump after saying in March that Iran had not started its nuclear programme.
“She’s wrong,” Trump said of Gabbard on Friday afternoon, as he landed in New Jersey after a flight from Washington. This week, the president said he did not “care” what Gabbard said on Iran’s nuclear programme.
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