President Trump wants any potential U.S. military action in Iran to be swift and decisive to avoid a sustained war, but his advisors cannot guarantee the regime would collapse quickly.

The current lack of necessary U.S. military assets, such as aircraft carriers, and concern over an aggressive Iranian response have likely delayed a full-blown assault.

Trump expressed uncertainty regarding the Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi’s ability to muster support and lead the country if the current regime were to fall.

With traders across the globe refreshing their X accounts every 3 seconds, expecting to see news of imminent “kinetic action” in Iran, they instead got a report from NBC indicating that military action is far from certain and could take days to launch.

According to the report which cites multiple anonymous sources – including a U.S. official, two people familiar with the discussions and a person close to the White House – Trump has told his national security team that “he would want any U.S. military action in Iran to deliver a swift and decisive blow to the regime and not spark a sustained war that dragged on for weeks or months.”