The Trump administration is divided over how to proceed in Iran, with senior officials pulling in opposite directions after this week's midterm elections, according to a Wall Street Journal report cited by RaiNews. Vice President JD Vance is pressing for the conflict to be wound down, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and General Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, favor a return to combat operations. The tensions among the various camps have sharpened since the midterms, the newspaper's sources said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are instead advocating tougher sanctions and a continuation of the blockade, RaiNews reports. Envoy Steve Witkoff backs Vance's position. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, would like to see fighting resume.
Why it matters
The split inside the administration comes as Washington weighs whether to restart a war that, according to Axios, Vance has blamed for the Republican Party's heavy losses in this week's elections. Axios reported that the vice president has spent the past two weeks personally engaged in indirect talks with Iran aimed at securing a new ceasefire and reviving nuclear negotiations. That level of involvement, the outlet said, puts the latest round of indirect talks at the top level of the administration and signals that Vance is taking responsibility for extracting the United States from the conflict.
The disagreement also matters because it runs alongside active diplomacy. Talks to head off a resumption of hostilities have picked up recently with Qatar acting as mediator, RaiNews reports, following a series of Israeli and American threats. How the internal debate in Washington resolves will shape whether that channel continues or collapses.
Tehran says it is ready and 'more powerful'
Iran's military said it is stronger than it was when the Middle East war began and is prepared to answer any attack at once and without geographic limits, according to RaiNews. Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia, quoted by the official IRNA agency, said the armed forces of the Islamic Republic are on higher alert and more capable than at the start of the war. He added that, on the orders of the Supreme Leader, any response by the armed forces would be immediate, effective and unrestricted by geography.
The statements followed recent US strikes on Qeshm, an island in the Strait of Hormuz. According to RaiNews, Trump acknowledged a strike lasting only a few minutes on Qeshm overnight, saying it was meant to destroy a small anti-aircraft device. He has also said he remains undecided on attacking Iran, framing the choice as an agreement or destruction.
Iranian news outlets reported missile impacts on Qeshm. The Tasnim agency wrote that two missiles struck the island, after the official IRNA agency had earlier carried similar information; Tasnim noted that no official confirmation had yet arrived. Sky TG24 also reported the overnight strike on Qeshm.
Pressure from Washington and a cash offer
Alongside the military and diplomatic tracks, the US military's Central Command announced on X that it would pay $20 million, plus the possibility of relocating elsewhere, to anyone providing information on Iran's nuclear program, including its facilities, equipment and associated personnel, RaiNews reports.
The wider region remains volatile. In Gaza, heavy rain and wind flooded hundreds of tents sheltering displaced people and destroyed dozens more across the territory, according to Al Jazeera correspondents cited by RaiNews. The bad weather caused widespread damage to temporary shelters housing families who had been forced to leave their homes.
At the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reaffirmed full support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and its central role in assisting Palestinians, despite Israeli opposition. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres would keep defending the agency's work and calling for it to be fully funded, RaiNews reports.
Italians held in the West Bank
Italian authorities are working to secure the release of Italian nationals detained by Israeli authorities in the West Bank, according to RaiNews. Among them is Aurora Valentini, 28, from Bisceglie near Bari, who lives in Turin and holds a three-year degree from La Sapienza University in Rome. Her father, Olinto Valentini, said the consulate had reassured the family that she is well, that she is not under detention but at a police station, and that she could soon reach Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport to return to Italy, possibly within a day or two. He said it was her second trip to the West Bank, undertaken as a humanitarian gesture after her contract with Ferrovie dello Stato ended, and that she had been helping with the olive harvest alongside Palestinians. He added that she had spoken with her mother by phone for about half an hour and had a slight fever.
Bisceglie mayor Angelantonio Angarano said on social media that he had contacted the foreign ministry's crisis unit, the prefect of the Barletta-Andria-Trani province, Flavia Anania, and the family to offer support, and expressed hope that she would soon return home, RaiNews reports.
Also among those held is Paula Jesus, a photojournalist from Brescia, detained near the village of Kafr Ni'ma together with her partner Marco Cola, president of a third-sector association, according to RaiNews. Both appear in a video posted on Instagram by the Israeli broadcaster C14. Italy's foreign ministry is working to obtain the release of the nationals, who were stopped during an operation, RaiNews reports.
What to watch next is whether the indirect talks mediated by Qatar produce a new ceasefire, and whether the administration's internal argument tips toward negotiations or a return to fighting.
