The White House has asked the intelligence community to assess how Iran would respond to the US declaring victory and ending the conflict. 

According to multiple sources speaking with Reuters, senior Trump administration officials requested the intelligence community develop the assessment. The request could signal that President Donald Trump may be seeking an off-ramp to end the war against Iran. 

Early in the war, the intelligence community assessed that if the US declared victory and withdrew from the region, Tehran would view the move as a victory. Additionally, some members of the administration are concerned that ending the conflict now would add to the Republicans’ losses in November. 

Ending the conflict now would likely leave Tehran in a stronger position than before the war. While Iran has sustained significant infrastructure destruction and thousands have died, Iran now controls the Strait of Hormuz and most of its military assets are still available.

Trump has given a myriad of goals for the war against Iran, including regime change, the destruction of Iran’s missile program, forcing Tehran to sever ties with its allies in the region, and eliminating Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. In recent weeks, Trump appears to have scaled down his objectives to the elimination of Tehran’s nuclear enrichment program. 

Iran has maintained that it is unwilling to dismantle its enrichment program. Tehran has offered to pause enriching uranium for a period of less than ten years as part of a deal for ending the conflict. Iran is also seeking control over the Strait of Hormuz and a pledge that the US and Israel will not attack again as its conditions for ending the conflict.