President 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 Mr. Trump decides to try to break the impasse with more bombs.
Mr. 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 Mr. Trump to declare victory and try to convince skeptical American voters that the expensive and deadly military foray into Iran was a success.
But Mr. Trump reiterated to reporters aboard Air Force One soon after he left Beijing on Friday that Iran’s latest peace offer was unacceptable.
“I looked at it, and if I don’t like the first sentence I just throw it away,” he said.
Mr. Trump said he discussed Iran with President Xi Jinping of China, a strategic partner of Tehran that depends on oil and gas shipped through the strait. But he said he did not ask Mr. Xi to pressure Iran, and full details of their discussions have not yet emerged.
Mr. Trump faces cross currents on the war. Although it has become a political liability for him and he has often seemed eager to move on, the president has not achieved what he has often presented as the war’s ultimate goal: preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon.
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.