Editorial note: This is a developing story, last updated at 2:00 a.m. Eastern May 23.
President Donald Trump was widely reported to be weighing new strikes against Iran the evening of May 22. As of early the next morning, no military action had been taken.
Reports: Admin poised to strike
Citing "sources with direct knowledge of the planning," CBS News first reported that the administration is preparing a fresh round of strikes, with military and intelligence personnel cancelling their Memorial Day weekend plans.
Trump also adjusted his own schedule, returning to Washington instead of going to New Jersey. He also announced he would be skipping his son Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding due to “circumstances pertaining to the government.”
BREAKING: President Trump announces he will NOT attend his son Don Jr.'s wedding, saying government matters and his "love for the United States of America" are too important for him to leave the White House during this "important period of time."
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 22, 2026
"While I very much wanted to be… pic.twitter.com/zgOJDlAYGq
Officials within the administration made no statements confirming the reports. Advisor to the President Dan Scavino posted a video showing a U.S. military aircraft that many took to be a murky reference to an impending strike.
— Dan Scavino Jr.🇺🇸🦅 (@DanScavino) May 23, 2026
Iran-connected plot against the President’s daughter
A report published May 22 by the New York Post said an Iraqi man with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC) and the militia Kata’ib Hezbollah allegedly plotted to assassinate Ivanka Trump in retaliation for the 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani.
According to the report, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, 32, obtained a blueprint of Ivanka Trump’s South Florida home and posted an online map of the Trump family’s Florida enclave alongside threats claiming neither “places” nor Secret Service protection would save them, and that he was in the “stage of surveillance and analysis.”
Neither Ivanka Trump nor the White House has publicly commented on the alleged plot.
Status of Iran negotiations
The Washington-based independent news site Drop Site News reported late May 22 that Iranian officials are on alert and prepared to retaliate in the event of U.S. strikes.
"Iranian analysts linked to the IRGC who spoke to Drop Site have stated that in the event of a renewed war, Iran is preparing to launch a wide-ranging offensive that would not stick to a limited timeframe, and would also escalate to involve targeting regional infrastructure critical to the global economy, as well as U.S. bases and naval assets within range of the Iranian coast," the outlet reported. "The Bab al-Mandab strait near Yemen, which has so far remained off limits during the current war, would also likely be targeted in a new round—adding another level of strain to the global economy."
As Zeale News reported, Trump days earlier said he had postponed a planned major attack on Iran that was scheduled for May 19, saying he did so at the request of Gulf Arab allies who believed a deal was still possible.
Also May 19, Senate lawmakers advanced a measure that would allow Congress to vote on any continuation of hostilities with Iran. As Zeale News reported, “Four Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the motion to discharge the measure from the Foreign Relations Committee: Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul of Kentucky.”
In the House, Republicans pulled a vote on a war powers resolution that would curtail Trump’s ability to continue the war after it became clear they did not have enough votes to kill the measure.
CBS reported that House Republican Leader Steve Scalise said vote “was delayed to give lawmakers who were absent a chance to vote,” while Democrats denounced the cancellation of the vote as “cowardly.”