Trump Weighs Iran Attack as Vance Seeks Off-Ramp — SkimNews
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- Chris Murphy said on October 28 that he and some colleagues received a classified briefing on a possible post-midterm restart of U.S. military operations against Iran; officials described a “short-duration plan,” which Murphy called insane and said would escalate and prolong the war.
- Wall Street Journal reported that the administration told several Gulf Arab countries to prepare for a “short, intense military campaign” in Iran after the midterms, while CNN reported Trump had not decided but appeared to favor major action.
- U.S. Central Command and Pentagon leaders were developing a wide-ranging target list that included Iranian energy infrastructure, military sites and nuclear facilities, CNN reported.
- Trump said at a rally in Lubbock, Texas, “You’ll see Iran in a couple of weeks, if you don’t mind,” publicly floating a possible attack in the coming weeks.
- JD Vance, with Trump’s approval, sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei and Iran’s Supreme National Security Council to test common ground and persuade Trump not to order a short, intense attack; Trump publicly denied directing Vance to revive talks.
- Abbas Araghchi wrote that Iran remains willing to pursue a dignified peaceful resolution but has “no trust whatsoever” in the U.S. administration’s professed desire for peace, adding that progress requires Washington to accept it has no military options.
- Sina Toossi said large-scale infrastructure warfare involving the U.S., Israel and Iran was inevitable but likely brief because Iranian retaliation would compel Washington to stop; otherwise, damage to regional energy infrastructure would worsen the existing energy crisis and push economies including the U.S. into recession.
Why it matters: The post-midterm timetable gives Gulf Arab countries little time to prepare, while the U.S. target list already includes Iranian energy and nuclear infrastructure. Toossi warned that if infrastructure fighting continued, damage to regional energy facilities would intensify the existing crisis and push economies including the U.S. into recession, also damaging Trump’s presidency and legacy.
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