Ammon News - The United States and Israel are engaged in intense preparations — the largest since the cease-fire took effect — for the possible resumption of attacks against Iran as early as next week, the New York Times reports, citing two Middle East officials.

US President Donald Trump returned from China on Friday facing major decisions on Iran, as his top aides have drafted plans for a return to military strikes if Trump decides to try to break the impasse with more bombs.

Trump has yet to make a decision on his next steps, the aides say. Officials from interested countries have been trying to patch together a compromise that would prompt Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and allow Trump to declare victory and try to convince skeptical American voters that the expensive and deadly military foray into Iran was a success.

The News York Times added that the Pentagon is planning for the possibility that Operation Epic Fury — which was paused when the president declared a cease-fire last month — will pick up again in the coming days, even if under a new name.

“We have a plan to escalate if necessary,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers during congressional testimony this week. Hegseth also said there are plans to pack up and go home, returning the surge of more than 50,000 troops assigned to the Middle East now to more standard deployments.

“They’re either going to make a deal or they’re going to be decimated,” Trump said on Tuesday before leaving for China. “So, one way or another, we win.”

If Trump decides to resume military strikes, options include more aggressive bombing runs at Iranian military and infrastructure targets, U.S. officials said.

Another option would put Special Operations troops on the ground to go after nuclear material buried deep underground, they said. Several hundred Special Operations forces arrived in the Middle East in March in a deployment meant to give Trump that option, the officials said.

As specialized ground troops, they could be used in a mission aimed at Iran’s highly enriched uranium at the Isfahan nuclear site. But such an operation would also need thousands of support troops, who would likely form a security perimeter and could be drawn into combat with Iranian troops.

That option, military officials acknowledged, would come with big risks of casualties.

Iranian officials have already said that they are preparing for a return to hostilities.