U.S. Commander Briefs Trump on Iran Strike Options as Qatari LNG Carrier Is Hit in the Gulf

The QatarGas LNG carrier Lijmiliya (file photo; not the vessel hit on Oct. 31). Photo: devopstom, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper has presented President Donald Trump with options for resuming attacks on Iran, and Israel has finished preparing for a renewed confrontation, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Saturday, according to Anadolu Agency. Cooper briefed Trump at a meeting attended by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and no decision had been made on resuming combat, the newspaper said.

Key figures: 10 U.S. transport aircraft reported at Israeli bases · “One or two” iranian nuclear sites trump says remain · 0 injuries on the qatari lng carrier al mayeda

Strike planning in Washington and Israel

Citing unnamed political sources, Yedioth reported that the Israeli air force had flown dozens of fighter jets and refueling aircraft through Syrian and Iraqi airspace toward Iran’s borders, rehearsing possible attack routes more than once. The paper also said 10 U.S. military transport aircraft had landed at Israeli air bases in recent days as part of an airlift of military equipment. The decision on whether to return to war rests with Trump, according to the report.

Trump said overnight into Sunday that “one or two sites” of Iran’s nuclear program remain to be dealt with, including Pickaxe Mountain. “We can do it in ten minutes. We have a plan for it, and we can execute it very quickly,” he said, The Jerusalem Post reported. The paper said Trump spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hours earlier, after discussing options with Cooper, Hegseth and Caine.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in Atlanta after the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, said “talks have actually never stopped,” sometimes directly but often through intermediaries, and declined to give a time frame, according to a State Department transcript. Iran’s position on talks, its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and its economy are covered in today’s Iran Daily Briefing.

Ships hit in and near the Strait of Hormuz

A Qatari liquefied natural gas carrier, Al Mayeda, was struck by “unidentified objects” while sailing through Gulf waters Friday evening, its operator, Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat), said in a filing on the Qatar Stock Exchange, Anadolu reported. “None of the crew members onboard were injured, and there is no impact on the environment as a result of this incident,” the company said. It said the ship remained safe and operational and that it was in contact with regional maritime security authorities.

Separately, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said Saturday that a supertanker hit a mine in an unsafe area east of the Strait of Hormuz, causing an explosion and fire, according to Anadolu. The IRGC did not name the vessel or give casualty figures, and it urged ships to keep their tracking systems switched on. No ship operator had confirmed the incident in the sources checked. Rubio said the United States had received “very limited cooperation” from other countries on protecting Hormuz shipping and that the task “primarily has fallen on the United States.”

Iranian state media made further claims that could not be confirmed. Mehr News Agency said a major fire broke out at an industrial facility in Dammam, in eastern Saudi Arabia, “following a reported Yemeni attack” !Unverified claim, Mehr News Agency (Iranian state-affiliated media); Saudi authorities had not commented in the sources checked. IRGC spokesman Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi said the force was working to identify new targets and plan operations in new geographical areas, Mehr reported !Unverified claim, Mehr News Agency (Iranian state-affiliated media).

A Revolutionary Guards spokesman, Gen. Mohammad Akraminia, told the Persian-language outlet Tabnak that Iran will receive Su-35 fighter jets after the war, saying contracts and pilot training had been completed before the fighting began in February, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Lebanon, Yemen and Gaza

In southern Lebanon, the Israeli army is building new roads through mountains and valleys to link its military posts in areas including Maroun al-Ras and Naqoura, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported, according to Anadolu. The work follows U.S.-sponsored Lebanon-Israel talks in Tampa, Florida, on Oct. 20-21 that ended without an announced breakthrough. Lebanon’s prosecution of 13 people in a Hezbollah explosives case is in our report on the Dahr al-Baidar truck seizure.

In Yemen, government forces captured the Huwayshian mountain range east of Al-Hazm, the Houthi-held capital of Al-Jawf province, a field commander told Anadolu, the agency reported. Yemen’s human rights minister said Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shami, an employee of the UN human rights office, died after more than two years in Houthi custody, and that his body had not been returned to his family, Anadolu reported.

In Gaza, two infant girls, Habiba Mohammed Zanoun, two months old, and Aseel Abu Suhayban, seven months old, died Saturday after a fire broke out in a tent in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, where food was being cooked, Anadolu reported.

By the numbers

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli authorities issued 9,518 demolition or stop-work notices against Palestinian structures from 2015 through September 2026, according to a report by the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Anadolu reported. That includes 9,174 notices from 2015 to 2025 and 344 in the first nine months of 2026. Hebron accounted for the most, with 2,697. The commission said its figures may not capture every notice.

Watch for any U.S. decision on resuming strikes, an owner’s account of the tanker the IRGC says hit a mine, and Nakilat’s assessment of the damage to Al Mayeda. Today’s trade war report covers the cost of the Hormuz disruption to shipping, and Iran’s designation of Britain’s navy and air force is in our earlier story.

Sources

• Anadolu Agency: Israel completes preparations for renewed confrontation with Iran: Report
• The Jerusalem Post: Donald Trump says US capable of hitting Iran 'in ten minutes' after Benjamin Netanyahu meeting
• US Department of State: Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a Press Availability
• Anadolu Agency: Qatari LNG carrier struck by 'unidentified objects' in Gulf waters: Company
• Anadolu Agency: Supertanker hits mine, catches fire east of Hormuz: Iran's Revolutionary Guard
• Mehr News Agency: VIDEO: Fire breaks out at ind. facilities in Saudi's Dammam
• Mehr News Agency: War with US would have no geographical limit: IRGC spox warns
• The Jerusalem Post: Iran confirms plans to acquire Russian Su-35 fighter jets after war ends
• Anadolu Agency: Israeli army builds new roads linking military posts in southern Lebanon
• Anadolu Agency: Yemeni army captures strategic mountain range from Houthis in Al-Jawf
• Anadolu Agency: UN employee dies after over 2 years in Houthi custody in Yemen: Minister
• Anadolu Agency: 'People are dying in so many ways': Tent fire kills 2 infant girls in Gaza
• Anadolu Agency: Israel issues over 9,500 demolition, stop-work notices in West Bank

Additional sources

• Mehr: Iran's response will have no geographical limits, top general says
• Mehr: Iran defense minister on military readiness
• Anadolu: Eisenkot vows to form broad new Israeli government
• Anadolu: Protesters in Israel demand government with Arab parties