Senior Israeli officials are pressing the Trump administration to take military action against Iran, but the White House is digging in against a strike, according to a new report from Axios.

Israeli leaders, including IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, have urged the United States to consider attacking Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Zamir traveled to Washington over the weekend, where he briefed senior U.S. officials on Israel’s offensive and defensive preparations should war break out with Tehran.

Among those briefed was Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine, according to the report. But the message did not move the needle.

“It’s safe to say that nothing came out of that meeting to change his or the president’s mind on attacking Iran,” one U.S. official told Axios, referring to Caine and Donald Trump. “It’s really the Israelis who want a strike. The president is just not there.”

Another senior U.S. official put it more bluntly: Trump “really does not want to do it.”

Three senior advisers told Axios that the president initially leaned toward military action during the height of Iran’s mass protests, viewing internal instability as a potential opening. That calculus has since changed.
Now, those advisers say, Trump and much of his inner circle believe a strike would be the wrong move — one that could ignite a wider regional war without delivering a decisive outcome.

Still, the door is not fully closed.

A senior official from one of the countries mediating between Washington and Tehran warned that Trump’s posture could harden quickly if diplomacy falters.

“If Iran doesn’t come to the talks on Friday with tangible things,” the official said, “it could find itself very quickly in a very bad situation.”

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