The Trump administration seems to be struggling to figure out how to get out of its self-made Iran quagmire.

According to a CNN report on Monday, the US military is now crowdsourcing ideas among military experts for what to do next in order to push Iran into a deal that is to President Donald Trump's liking.

"We are looking for new creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran," an email from an officer in US Central Command's (Centcom) intelligence branch read last week, according to the CNN report.

A Centcom spokesperson said the move is not unusual, and that it "has a long history of thinking and working in innovative ways".

But the email suggests the Pentagon did not plan for the conflict to drag out this long.