Trump Consulting With Iran Hawks Who Want Him To Restart Bombing Campaign

   

According to Axios, Trump recently told an aide that 'all Iran's leaders understand is bombs'

by Dave DeCamp | April 28, 2026 at 8:36 pm ET

Amid a US blockade on Iranian ports and a very fragile ceasefire with Iran, President Trump has been consulting with some of the most rabid Iran hawks who want him to restart the bombing campaign, according to a report from Axios.

The report said Trump has been speaking with the notoriously hawkish Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Ret. US Army General Jack Keane, and Marc Thiessen, a Washington Post columnist and former speechwriter for the George W. Bush administration, who has been urging the president to kill more of Iran’s leadership.

Trump recently shared a post from Thiessen where he called for the US to kill Iranian leaders who don’t want to give in to US demands. “If there are two factions in Iran, one that wants a deal and one that doesn’t, let’s kill the ones who don’t want a deal,” Thiessen said.

President Trump holds a ‘Make Iran Great Again’ hat in a photo posted to Sen. Graham’s X account on January 5, 2026

According to the Axios report, Trump is considering either restarting the bombing campaign or waiting to see if the US blockade and increasing sanctions have an impact. A Trump adviser told the outlet that Trump recently said that “all [Iran’s leaders] understand is bombs.”

Israel, the US’s partner in the conflict, has also made clear that it’s eager to restart airstrikes on Iran. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said last week that Israel is awaiting a “greenlight” from the US to kill the rest of the Khamenei family and plunge Iran into “the age of darkness and stone by blowing up central energy and electricity facilities and crushing national economic infrastructure,” echoing similar threats made by Trump.

In the meantime, the US is attempting to ramp up the economic pressure on Iran, with the Treasury Department announcing more sanctions on Tuesday, part of the “maximum pressure” campaign against the Islamic Republic.

“This is maximum pressure everywhere and from all angles,” a senior administration official told Axios. “That could mean military action, too. It might not. It’s up to the president.”

https://news.antiwar.com/2026/04/28/trump-consulting-with-iran-hawks-who-want-him-to-restart-bombing-campaign/