Trump says U.S. will not resume military strikes on Iran before Nov. 3 midterm elections — SkimNews
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- Trump announced on Oct. 8, 2026 that the U.S. "will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections on November 3rd," while stating his team is having "productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran."
- Special envoy Steve Witkoff has continued indirect negotiations with Iranian officials, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday he expected Tehran would offer a formal reply within days, following Iran's receipt of a U.S. counterproposal last week.
- Trump said at a San Antonio rally on Oct. 7, "I think the deal isn't really something that I want to do, but they're willing to offer us anything to stop," signaling he believes the U.S. is gaining leverage over Iran.
- U.S. Central Command is shepherding oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz at night with location systems turned off, aided by Gulf pipelines that have restored exports to nearly prewar levels, though Iran has ramped up tanker attacks and operators now charge $1 million a day or more.
- Saudi Arabia and Yemen's government have launched a military campaign against Iran-backed Houthis in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, while the Houthis are striking Saudi airports and infrastructure with drones and missiles.
- A third aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, carrying thousands of troops could arrive in the region as early as end of October, the same day the USS Abraham Lincoln returned to San Diego after a record-long deployment marked by crew stress, poor mental health, and supply shortages.
- The June interim agreement signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian collapsed within weeks amid disputes over control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil flowed before the war.
Why it matters: Trump's pre-midterms pause creates a roughly four-week negotiating window, but his own quote — that he doesn't really want the deal but Iran "is willing to offer us anything to stop" — reveals leverage-seeking rather than a genuine endgame, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt deployment and $1-million-a-day tanker rates show the war's economic and military costs are still escalating even as diplomacy resumes.
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