US President Donald Trump says he will soon decide on Iran, and that the outcome will come ‘the easy way or the hard way’. Here is what is known about the standoff and what may follow. On October 3, Trump told reporters that Iran had been ‘decimated’ and had ‘virtually given up’ nuclear weapon plans. The remarks are read as a choice between a deal and renewed large-scale military action. The warning follows a secret meeting of his top security aides at Camp David on Friday. Axios reported that Vice President JD Vance chaired the session, with Rubio, Hegseth, Witkoff, CIA chief John Ratcliffe and General Dan Caine. The conflict began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes; an April 8 ceasefire ended a 40-day war, but fighting has continued in bursts. Reuters quoted three senior Iranian officials as saying Tehran could target countries supporting US operations, and possibly locations beyond West Asia. The Wall Street Journal reported Trump expects a renewed bombing campaign after the November elections. At a rally in Mobile, Alabama, Trump said the war could end ‘one way or the other’ and predicted oil prices would fall when it did.