Sources: Top US general seeks an off-ramp from Iran war(CNN) — Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has privately told senior advisers of President Donald Trump in recent weeks that the United States must find a way to end the war with Iran. “I think it is just his way of protecting the military,” one of the sources told CNN, referring to Caine’s discussions with other top national security officials within Trump’s cabinet about the Iran war. For example, a senior military official at CENTCOM recently sent a crowdsourcing email seeking new creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran, sources previously told CNN. While soliciting fresh ideas is not necessarily a bad idea, particularly given the current state of the war, sources noted that doing so six months after the war started amounts to tacit acknowledgment things are not going well. “It is rough when you are looking at those options in the middle of the war instead of before it starts,” one of the sources familiar with the planning discussions said.