2026-07-31T13:07:50.013Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/31/politics/trump-iran-war-saudi-israel
本周三上午刚过10点，一支沙特官员代表团抵达白宫西翼，向白宫传递信息。
据知情人士透露，国防大臣哈立德·本·萨勒曼此次突访华盛顿，向总统唐纳德·特朗普和副总统J·D·万斯转达了其兄长、沙特实权派王储的讯息：沙特希望伊朗战争降级，延长冲突将带来重大风险。
一天前，另一名特使通过同一扇门带来了截然不同的讯息。据以色列官员透露，以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡在椭圆形办公室与特朗普会面时，对与伊朗开展外交是否会取得成果表示怀疑。两位领导人讨论了向伊朗施压的备选方案，包括重启全面战争。
本周这两场接连举行的会晤纯属巧合，但它们凸显了特朗普面临的复杂局面：他正寻求从这场远超其原定时限的冲突中找到脱身之道。
随着共和党同僚施压要求结束战争，局势实际上却在升级，新的战场不断开辟，几乎整个地区国家都被卷入其中。外交努力充其量只是停滞不前；一名美国高级官员表示，恢复与伊朗的直接外交似乎并不紧迫。
尽管特朗普声称伊朗正“乞求”达成结束冲突的协议，但一些美国官员担心，伊朗政权高层比以往任何时候都更致力于掌控霍尔木兹海峡的影响力，并向美军发射导弹。
据美国官员透露，特朗普因德黑兰不愿屈服于其要求而感到沮丧，这导致他在幕后召开愤怒的会议，并在给盟友的电话中使用脏话。他定于周五在戴维营召集内阁会议，或许希望从该度假胜地过去在中东外交中取得成功的先例中汲取灵感。
伊朗持续的威胁迫使特朗普调整了自己的计划，最明显的是他本月早些时候从土耳其返程时更换了空军一号专机。据官员透露，此次更换是为了应对邻近伊朗升级的威胁，随后相关报道激怒了总统，让他颜面尽失。
一些共和党幕僚透露，特朗普的许多盟友如今担心伊朗战争有彻底拖垮他的总统任期的风险，进而危及共和党在即将到来的中期选举中的胜算。本周CNN的一项民调显示，仅有28%的美国人认可他对战争的处理方式。
向特朗普提出的升级冲突的方案已得到详尽讨论，更多军事资产被调往该地区，等待总统批准。美国官员称，中央司令部制定的一项计划涉及在一到两周内实施大规模轰炸，以摧毁伊朗的导弹能力。
但在上周国会山的一场听证会上，参谋长联席会议主席丹·凯恩将军承认，仅凭空中轰炸，特朗普不太可能实现其此前 stated的所有战争目标。
“空中力量有其局限性，”凯恩当时对议员们说道。
到目前为止特朗普仍未采取行动，部分原因是凯恩表达了对防空拦截弹库存减少的担忧。其他官员也提出担忧，如果特朗普兑现打击桥梁和海水淡化厂等基础设施的威胁，可能会造成大量平民伤亡。
“我这样做是在伤害谁？伤害的是普通民众，所以我不打算这么做，”总统在本周福克斯新闻的一次采访中说道。
据知情人士透露，目前地区各方的外交讨论围绕一项短期协议展开，重点是重新开放霍尔木兹海峡，这将让特朗普能够宣称取得了胜利。上月美伊签署的谅解备忘录中对该问题的处理方式存在截然不同的解读，此后这条水道成为了冲突的核心。
共和党幕僚表示，共和党人在整个冲突期间大多支持特朗普，但越来越担心高油价可能会在中期选举中损害本党利益，因此他们在私下谈话中传达了重新开放这条航道的重要性。
“显然，我们希望在那里取得成功。我们认为我们已经在那里取得了很高的军事成就，”参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩本周说道。“霍尔木兹海峡的问题显然是总统及其团队正在继续谈判的议题，希望他们能在不久的将来达成一个结果或解决方案。”
白宫表示，伊朗将“继续付出代价”，直到他们以特朗普接受的方式回到谈判桌前。“美国与伊朗签署了谅解备忘录，他们却违反了协议，袭击商船，杀害美军士兵。特朗普总统不会坐视这种恐怖主义行为发生。伊朗将继续付出代价，直到他们以特朗普认为有意义的方式回到谈判桌前，”新闻秘书卡罗琳·莱维特在一份声明中说道。
尽管包括卡塔尔和巴基斯坦在内的调解方正加紧努力恢复外交谈判，但几乎没有任何积极谈判的迹象。相反，官员们如今担心伊朗强大的革命卫队牢牢掌控着决策权，美国一直在接触的政治人物不过是挂名首脑。
令情况更加复杂的是伊朗革命卫队内部的动态：几名高级指挥官都在争夺控制权。美国官员和地区伙伴之所以担心冲突可能持续下去，主要原因之一便是这种局面。
本周在椭圆形办公室，特朗普暗示了这种分歧，他称伊朗对美军阵地的袭击并非其团队试图接触的谈判对象所为。
“这与我们正在打交道的那伙人不是同一批，”他坚称。“他们已经道歉了。”
特朗普抱怨称，很难弄清伊朗内部是谁在做决策，有时还对美国和德黑兰能否达成任何协议表示怀疑。尽管如此，他的首席特使史蒂夫·维特科夫夫和女婿贾里德·库什纳仍对达成协议抱有信心。
据熟悉此次会晤的以色列官员透露，本周特朗普与内塔尼亚胡的会晤（维特科夫夫和其他高级官员也在场）中，内塔尼亚胡对与伊朗开展外交是否奏效表示怀疑，并将这一观点告知了特朗普。
两位领导人转而讨论了加大对伊朗施压的各种选项，包括强化军事打击和经济制裁。一名官员表示，内塔尼亚胡在会晤中向特朗普保证，美国总统是最终决策者，试图反驳有关以色列试图说服特朗普重启战争的说法。
“我们在讨论该怎么做——并没有标准答案，”一名出席会晤的以色列官员事后说道。
次日，特朗普的沙特访客就冲突提出了沙特自己的评估。哈立德王子——沙特实际统治者王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼的亲密心腹——此次访问行程短暂，最初定于上周进行。他离开白宫后不久便离开了华盛顿。
据知情人士透露，尽管本周美沙联合开展了针对伊拉克境内伊朗支持的民兵的新行动，但沙特仍希望看到冲突降级。沙特国防大臣告诉万斯，沙特的军事行动旨在明确其将自卫，袭击其民用基础设施是一条不会得不到回应的红线。这也是为了向伊朗的代理人传递信息：这场战争不该由他们来打。
据消息人士透露，沙特的评估是，伊朗将试图通过升级局势来制造筹码，并继续利用伊拉克和也门的亲伊朗民兵来达到目的。
“大臣传递的核心信息……是推动局势升级的是内塔尼亚胡，而沙特王国希望降级，”一名熟悉对话的消息人士告诉CNN。
目前尚不清楚特朗普从这些会晤中得到了什么结论，但他在数小时后声称，这场如今已有埃及和沙特等新参与者卷入的扩大冲突将很快得到解决。
“一切都会理顺的，”他周三说道，随后预告了又一轮报复性打击：“轮到我们了，我们看看能否在某个时刻达成协议。但我们会对他们进行重创。”
Trump gets conflicting messages as he seeks an exit ramp from the Iran war
2026-07-31T13:07:50.013Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/31/politics/trump-iran-war-saudi-israel
Just past 10 a.m. on Wednesday, a delegation of Saudi officials arrived at the West Wing carrying a message for the White House.
Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, on an unannounced visit to Washington, conveyed word to both President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance from his brother, the kingdom’s powerful crown prince, that Saudi Arabia wants the Iran war to deescalate — and that prolonging the conflict carries major risks, according to people familiar with the conversations.
A day earlier, another emissary had arrived through the same door with a different message. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sitting with Trump in the Oval Office, voiced skepticism that diplomacy with Iran would prove fruitful, according to Israeli officials. Instead, the two discussed options for pressuring Iran, including renewing a full-scale war, those officials said.
The back-to-back meetings this week were scheduled coincidentally. But they nonetheless underscore the crosscurrents facing Trump as he seeks an exit ramp to a conflict that has extended well past his deadline.
As pressure mounts from fellow Republicans to wind the war down, it actually appears to be expanding, with new fronts opening up and virtually every country in the region now drawn in. Efforts at diplomacy are halting at best; a senior US official said resuming direct diplomacy with Iran does not appear imminent.
Despite Trump’s claims Iran is “begging” for a deal to end the violence, some US officials fear regime figures appear more committed than ever to wielding leverage over the Strait of Hormuz and firing missiles toward American troops.
Trump has grown frustrated at Tehran’s unwillingness to bend to his demands, leading to angry meetings behind the scenes and expletive-laced phone calls to his allies, according to US officials. He is scheduled to convene his Cabinet on Friday at Camp David, perhaps hoping to seize inspiration from the retreat’s past role in successful Middle East diplomacy.
The ongoing threats from Iran have forced Trump to alter his own plans, most notably a swap in Air Force One aircraft on his return trip from Turkey earlier this month. The change was made amid ramped up threats from neighboring Iran, according to officials, and subsequent coverage of the issue infuriated and embarrassed the president.
Many of Trump’s allies are now worried the Iran war is threatening to engulf his presidency entirely, and with it, Republicans’ chances in upcoming midterm elections, according to some GOP operatives. A CNN survey this week found only 28% of Americans approved of his handling of the war.
Options for escalating the conflict have been presented to Trump and debated at length, and more military assets flowed to the region in anticipation of a go-ahead from the president. One plan conceived by Central Command would involve heavy bombardment over the course of one or two weeks to take out Iran’s missile capabilities, US officials said.
But during a hearing on Capitol Hill last week, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine acknowledged that it is unlikely Trump can accomplish all his previously stated objectives for the war with air bombing alone.
“Air power has its limits,” Caine told lawmakers at the time.
And Trump has so far held off, in part after hearing concerns from Caine about dwindling supplies of air defense interceptors. Other officials have also raised worries about the risks of high civilian casualties if Trump followed through on threats to strike infrastructure sites like bridges and water desalination plants.
“Who am I hurting there? I’m hurting the people, so I’m not looking to do that,” the president said during a Fox News interview this week.
At this point, diplomatic discussions among regional players revolve around a short-term agreement focused on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, according to people familiar with the discussions, that would allow Trump to claim a win. The waterway has become the center of the conflict after the US and Iran came away with very different interpretations of how the issue was addressed in last month’s memorandum of understanding.
Republicans, who have largely supported Trump over the course of the conflict but are increasingly concerned higher gas prices could hurt their party in the midterms, have conveyed in private conversations the importance of getting the conduit reopened, the GOP operatives said.
“Obviously, we want success there. We think that we’ve achieved a high level of military success there,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said this week. “The question on the Strait of Hormuz is something that obviously the president and his team are trying to continue to negotiate, and hopefully they’ll land an outcome or a solution there in the near future.”
The White House said Iran would “continue to pay” until they come to the table in a way Trump accepts. “The United States signed an MOU with Iran and they broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers. President Trump is not going to stand by and allow this terrorist behavior to occur. Iran will continue to pay until they come to the table in, what President Trump deems, a meaningful way,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
While mediators including Qatar and Pakistan are hurriedly working to revive diplomatic talks, there are few signs of any active negotiations. Instead, officials now fear Iran’s powerful revolutionary guards are firmly in control of the decision making, leaving the political figures the US has been talking with as figureheads.
Complicating matters are the internal dynamics of the IRGC itself, where a handful of senior commanders are all jockeying for control. That dynamic is a leading reason why US officials and regional partners fear the conflict is likely to drag on.
In the Oval Office this week, Trump hinted at the divide, saying attempted Iranian strikes at US positions had not been the work of the interlocutors his team is trying to engage.
“It was a different group than we’re dealing with,” he insisted. “They’ve already apologized.”
Trump has complained that it’s difficult to know who is making decisions inside Iran, and he sometimes casts doubt on the ability of the US and Tehran to arrive at any agreement. Still, his top envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner have voiced confidence a deal is possible.
During Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu this week — attended by Witkoff and other senior officials — the prime minister appeared skeptical that diplomacy with Iran would work, and told Trump as much, according to Israeli officials familiar with the meeting.
Instead, the men discussed various options for ramping up pressure on Iran, including intensifying military strikes and economic measures. Netanyahu assured Trump in the meeting that the US president was the final decision maker, one of the officials said, seeking to rebut suggestions Israel is attempting to sway Trump toward a resumption of war.
“We’re talking about what to do – you don’t have a textbook solution,” an Israeli official who attended the meeting said afterward.
The next day, Trump’s visitor from Saudi Arabia offered the kingdom’s own assessment of the conflict. The visit by Prince Khalid — a close confidant of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler — was brief and initially scheduled for last week. He departed Washington soon after leaving the White House.
Despite new joint US-Saudi operations against Iran-backed militias in Iraq this week, Saudi Arabia still wants to see de-escalation in the conflict, the defense minister told Vance, according to people familiar with the conversation. The Saudi military action was meant to make clear that it will defend itself and that attacking its civilian infrastructure is a red line that will not go unanswered, the sources said. It was also meant to send the message to Iran’s proxies that this is not their war to fight.
Saudi Arabia’s assessment, according to the sources, is that Iran will seek to create leverage through escalation, and continue trying to use pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Yemen to do so.
“The minister’s underlying message … is that it’s Netanyahu who is pushing for this escalation, whereas the Kingdom wants to de-escalate,” a source familiar with the conversation told CNN.
What Trump took away from the meetings wasn’t exactly clear, though he claimed hours later the widening conflict — now involving new players like Egypt and Saudi Arabia — would soon come to a resolution.
“It’s going to be straightening out,” he said Wednesday, going on to preview another night of retaliatory strikes: “It’s our turn, and we’ll see if we get there with an agreement at some point. But we’re going to hit them very hard.”
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