Despite early claims from the White House that the conflict with Iran could wrap up in just a few weeks, new reporting suggests the war President Donald Trump launched may drag on for most of the year.
According to a report from Politico, a notification sent to military personnel shows that U.S. Central Command is asking the Pentagon to send additional military intelligence officers to its headquarters in Tampa, Florida, to help manage the expanding operation against Iran.
The officers are being asked to report for at least 100 days — and possibly remain through September.
That timeline strongly suggests the Pentagon is preparing for a conflict lasting roughly seven months, far longer than the four-to-five-week estimate Trump floated over the weekend.
If the planning holds, the war could stretch straight into the fall and dangerously close to the midterm elections.
Behind the scenes, some Republicans are already worried about the political fallout.
“When you’re at war, that is 75 percent of your time,” one GOP source told Politico’s Playbook. “It already is a nightmare, because you’ve got the MAGA coalition just tearing at the seams.”
The fighting has already proven deadly. Six U.S. service members stationed in Kuwait have been killed in retaliatory strikes since the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran began, and Trump has warned that more casualties could follow.
The conflict is also starting to hit Americans where it hurts — at the gas pump.
Following the escalation, gas prices jumped Tuesday by the largest single-day increase since 2022. Crude oil has surged more than $10 per barrel as Tehran targets energy infrastructure in the Gulf.
That spike threatens to undermine a key message from the White House. Officials, including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, had been highlighting lower gas prices as a political bright spot heading into the midterms.
Public support for the war is also shaky.
A poll by Reuters found just 27 percent of Americans approve of the strikes against Iran. Even among Republicans, only 55 percent support the action.
That’s a far cry from 2003, when 93 percent of Republicans backed President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq.
Independent voters are even more skeptical — about 60 percent say Trump’s use of force is “too much.”
Another survey from YouGov and The Economist shows the president facing the highest disapproval rating of his second term.
Some of the loudest criticism is even coming from within Trump’s own MAGA base, with allies pointing out that the self-described “America First” president ran in 2024 promising to avoid new wars.
Trump, however, has brushed off the backlash — sharing posts on Truth Social insisting his critics don’t have the power to stop him.
But if the Pentagon’s planning memo is accurate, this conflict may only be getting started.
