Iran War Escalation: U.S. Options Narrow as Tehran Sets Higher Price

Recent developments in negotiations indicate that U.S. President Donald Trump's options for exiting the war against Iran have "narrowed," The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday . Trump for weeks had been laying the groundwork to declare victory in the Iran war should Tehran fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even floating the idea privately to senior aides that he is willing to walk away without a nuclear deal, according to U.S. officials cited by the Journal . The report noted that Trump sought to include nuclear talks as part of broader negotiations with Iran, but those have proven too difficult, leading the White House in recent weeks to focus more on reopening the Strait of Hormuz . That scaled-back objective became more difficult when Iran insisted Saturday on its highest price yet for seeking billions of dollars in U.S. payments, the removal of American troops from the region, and an end of the U.S. naval blockade, among other things . The report added that recent chaos in negotiations signaled Tehran is prepared for a long and grinding conflict . The latest report came two days after CNN reported that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine has, over the last few weeks, privately told other top Trump advisers and Cabinet officials that the United States needs to find an off-ramp from the war with Iran . Meanwhile, growing concerns over U.S. ammunition stockpiles have raised doubts about how long military operations against Iran can be sustained in a war now in its fifth month. Media reported that the U.S. military had exhausted nearly 80 percent of the interceptors for a key missile defense system during the war, as military commanders warned that the army's munitions stockpile was "dangerously low" . On Thursday, Trump acknowledged that although overall U.S. ammunition stockpiles remain sufficient, supplies of certain types of ammunition are "a little bit tighter," without elaborating . According to a report by The Washington Post on Saturday, the Pentagon is asking the U.S. defense industry to rapidly escalate the production and delivery of weapons, including munitions that are in extreme shortage due to the war .