Trump plans to resume strikes against Iran after midterm elections

October 31, 2026 5 Min Read

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President Donald Trump plans to resume strikes against Iran after the midterm elections, as his domestic political power is expected to wane in his final two years in office and his attention is expected to turn to foreign policy.

The Trump administration has asked its Gulf allies to prepare for a series of short, intense strikes as early as Nov. 4, the day after the midterm elections, according to three senior Gulf Arab officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share sensitive discussions.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported on the Trump administration’s briefings with Gulf Arab countries.

Washington’s allies in the Gulf are working to defuse the situation, worried about retaliation from Iran.

A Gulf official said they “would not be surprised” if some Gulf states repelled US strikes from their bases at home.

The United States has not struck Iran since September 1, more than six months after the start of the war that Washington launched with Israel and which killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Trump has pledged not to launch new attacks before the midterms, while Iran continues to threaten maritime traffic in the vital Strait of Hormuz and the United States blockades Iranian ports to pressure Tehran.

“We do not comment on sensitive military projects that may or may not exist. President Trump is keeping all options on the table to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon,” said a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Trump said Friday that the war with Iran “is going to end very soon.”

“We’re knocking them out,” Trump said in an interview with Kansas City radio station KCMO. Trump predicted that “we will have a non-nuclear Iran. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and it will not have one, and that is going to end very soon.”

But Trump’s path to further increasing military pressure on Iran is complicated by a Republican base increasingly divided over Iran and America’s role in the world.

“It’s a difficult situation because of the base,” said a former Trump administration official in regular contact with Trump’s entourage, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about Trump’s deliberations. “I would say that President Trump is focused on the Iranian threat, not just the nuclear threat, but also terrorism. »

In addition to trying to destroy Iran’s nuclear program — much of which is buried deep underground — Trump has said he wants Iran to stop supporting proxy militant groups and using terrorism to project power in the region.

About two-thirds of Americans, or 65 percent, disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of U.S. military action in Iran, with Republicans and Republican-leaning independents increasingly negative about the conflict, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.

Trump has long been obsessed with Iran’s nuclear ambitions and some around him expect that once the midterm elections are behind him, he will focus more on his foreign policy legacy.

“He’s obsessed with Iran not getting a nuclear weapon,” said another former Trump administration official familiar with the Trump administration’s foreign policy deliberations. “He is convinced that with this final attack we can reach an agreement with the Iranians, or we can finally destroy their nuclear program.”

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Trump said Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, a deeply buried site linked to Iran’s nuclear program, could be a potential target for the United States.

“We can read the insignia on someone’s shirt from space, OK? We know exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe Mountain. We know the other three (nuclear sites) are obliterated,” Trump said.

Speaking last week on the campaign trail in Florida, Trump said that if Iran did not agree to make concessions on its nuclear program, the United States would have to launch more attacks.

“We could do another little Epic Fury,” Trump said, using the name the Pentagon gave to the bombing campaign the United States launched against Israel in February. “Or they’ll agree. If they’re smart, they’ll just say ‘let’s get down to business’.”

Trump’s team is making a final diplomatic push as the United States builds up its forces in the region.

Vice President JD Vance recently sent a letter to Gen. Mohsen Rezaei, a former radical Revolutionary Guard commander who became secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council in August, proposing a meeting between Iranian and U.S. officials to resume talks, according to two people familiar with the matter, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

Qatari mediators were back in Tehran on Friday to push for a deal between the United States and Iran, as the small Gulf state stepped up its diplomatic efforts over the past week. Qatar proposed a seven-day plan to address Washington and Tehran’s concerns, including confidence-building measures the sides could take, one of the people familiar with the discussions said. Envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are involved, the two people said.

At the same time, the United States is sending a third carrier strike group, led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and some 9,000 sailors and Marines to the Middle East, alongside other ships. U.S. officials said those forces would arrive in late November.

The United States has also strengthened its defenses in the region, moving additional Patriot batteries to Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Washington ordered most government employees in Saudi Arabia to leave the country and reduced staff at missions in Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan after warning last week that Iran had significantly stepped up its attempts to attack U.S. personnel stationed in the Middle East. The State Department also raised concerns about attacks on Saudi Arabia by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen and their possible fallout in the region.

Sen. Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, said he recently attended a classified briefing on Trump’s war plans if he resumes military operations, which he said could include targeting civilian infrastructure.

“Their plan is insane,” he said at a think tank event in Washington earlier this week. “The plan they have developed will lead, in my opinion, to a prolongation and escalation of this war which will be devastating to our security interests.”