U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing at the White House, January 20, 2026. REUTERS Nathan Howard
Anonymous sources speaking with Zeteo report President Donald Trump is getting increasingly angry with his failure in Iran and is looking to do something — anything — to move things along, regardless of the violence or the consequences.
“Two senior Trump administration officials and two other sources briefed on the situation tell Zeteo that Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated by the state of peace talks with Iran, and the president has ordered an acceleration of the Pentagon’s preparation for a new phase of his war in the Middle East,” said Zeteo writers Asawin Suesaeng and Andrew Perez.
“Trump’s war fever is back,” one of the senior administration officials said this week, adding that the administration is ready to “ramp up the war again within the coming days, after the U.S. president returns from his state visit in China, should Trump give the order to strike.”
Additionally, the sources say Trump has not completely ruled out high-risk operations that could get Americans killed.
“Sources add that military options Trump has voiced a preference for include a potential massive new bombing campaign against the Iranians,” report Zeteo. “The president is still keenly interested in sending in ground troops and special forces, including to find and remove highly enriched uranium stockpiles, but some senior Trump appointees expect him to hold off on that kind of high-risk operation, at least for the moment.”
Trump changes his mind on a whim, but Zeteo reports “knowledgeable sources who have previously and correctly warned the companyof Trump’s policies and actions to come were in near-uniform agreement: Get ready for more war – and soon.”
This is terrible timing for Trump and a Republican Party that keeps rubberstamping Trump’s deeply unpopular war.
“The official who told us that the president’s war fever has returned, like other sources, was emphatic that they do not want this conflict to continue, given how much of a political disaster it’s become for Trump, and how badly it has jacked up prices for American voters during a midterm election year.”
Trump, meanwhile, made clear that he is heedless of the impact his war has on American voters at the gas pump and the grocery store.
“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” he said earlier this week