Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has removed the Pentagon's top military planner, Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, just as the Trump administration tells partners in the Middle East to get ready for a possible new round of strikes on Iran once next Tuesday's midterm elections are over.

A Pentagon official said late Wednesday that Sylvia faces misconduct accusations for passing classified information about the Iran war and the fighting between Russia and Ukraine to reporters. According to the official he failed three polygraph exams on the question and the case has been sent to the Justice Department. No one has been named to replace him.

Sylvia ran the Joint Staff office for strategy, plans and policy, known inside the military as the J5. That office drafts war plans and coordinates them with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the president. He is the second general pushed out of the post under Hegseth. Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, who held it before him, was made to step down a year ago this month.

Allies told to brace

U.S. officials have told several Middle East governments and other regional partners to prepare for renewed military action against Iran after the Nov. 3 vote, two diplomats briefed on the warnings said on condition of anonymity. The same officials cautioned that Iran could strike back at those countries.

The diplomats said President Donald Trump has yet to settle on a final course. He has said again and again that he is weighing new strikes once the elections are behind him. The White House declined to comment.

Partners were told a fresh campaign could last several days. Officials in the region expect Iran and the armed groups it backs to retaliate in ways that could stretch the fighting out. They have been urged to guard energy sites and other critical infrastructure.

Mines in the strait

On Thursday Iran's Revolutionary Guard said three tankers hit sea mines and caught fire while trying to leave the Strait of Hormuz by a southern route it calls unauthorized. It said the ships had switched off their radar and navigation systems. The claim could not be independently confirmed.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that Tehran is still giving diplomacy a chance and is working with mediators on ideas from an earlier proposal that Trump turned down. Trump said the same day that he approved Vice President JD Vance reaching out to Iran about medical supplies but denied telling him to restart peace talks.

More forces on the way

The U.S. has not struck Iran since early September in a war that began in late February. A third American aircraft carrier and thousands more troops are now headed to the region. Late last month the USS Theodore Roosevelt left San Diego along with amphibious ships, roughly 9,000 troops in all.

Sylvia spent 32 years in uniform and led the Kentucky-based 101st Airborne Division until May 2025. He joins nearly two dozen generals, admirals and other senior leaders who have been fired or eased out under Hegseth, moves the Pentagon has mostly left unexplained. Hegseth has also ordered a 20% cut in the number of top officers by Jan. 1, 2027.

Higher gas prices tied to the war have weighed on Republican candidates in the final stretch of the campaign. At a stop in Lubbock, Texas, on Tuesday, Trump told the crowd the conflict could be over "in a couple of weeks" and said it will end whenever he wants it to.