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Trump vows no Iran strikes before midterms even as Pentagon readies three-day plan
President Trump said the U.S. will not attack Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, citing productive talks with Tehran, on the same day the New York Times reported the Pentagon has drafted plans for a roughly three-day bombing campaign.
President Donald Trump moved to take a renewed Iran war off the table until after the midterm elections. "We will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd," Trump wrote on Truth Social, saying the administration is "having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Trump said the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports would "remain in full force and effect," boasting that 22 million barrels of oil had moved through the Strait of Hormuz in a single night, "with not one barrel coming from, or going to, Iran." A White House official stressed that "all options" remain available.
The plan on the shelf
The New York Times reported the same day that Pentagon planners have developed options for a concentrated campaign of about three days aimed at the Revolutionary Guards’ rebuilt ballistic missile launchers and stockpiles and drone infrastructure. Energy installations and IRGC headquarters and command posts could also be hit, according to the report.
The Times said Trump has rejected five proposals from his national security team for major military operations against Iran or the Iran-backed Houthis.
Political calculus
The renewed conflict has been unpopular, and earlier flareups pushed up oil prices and cost-of-living pressures that have weighed on Republicans’ standing ahead of the vote. Meanwhile, three U.S. aircraft carriers, the Theodore Roosevelt, George H.W. Bush and George Washington, are expected to operate in the region simultaneously by late October for the first time since 2003, with more than 20,000 sailors and Marines.
Iran has attacked at least 13 vessels in the Gulf since September, and defense officials are concerned about dwindling stocks of interceptor missiles. Nuclear talks remain stuck over the sequencing of steps.
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