Trump Bombs Qeshm Island Hours Before Midterms — SkimNews
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- Trump's administration launched a bombing attack on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz late Monday, hours before U.S. voters were due at the polls; a U.S. official called the attack a “defensive measure” in response to Iran’s use of surface-to-air missiles, including one fired at a U.S. jet.
- Wall Street Journal was first to report the strikes and said the administration had purposefully kept recent smaller-scale strikes quiet to avoid signaling an intention to resume major combat operations; the U.S. military did not publicly announce the Qeshm operation.
- Vance said Monday that he and Trump felt good about the prospect of a negotiated settlement, even though Trump had vowed the previous month that the U.S. would not attack Iran before the midterms and that discussions were “productive.”
- Kazem Gharibabadi said Tuesday that Iran was prepared for “any scenario” and retained its right to legitimate self-defense until “military aggression” had ended completely and permanently.
- Jamal Abdi said the strikes pointed in the opposite direction from a negotiated settlement after eight months of what he called an illegal war, and urged Congress to demand answers, oppose further military action and cut off war funding.
- Chris Murphy said a classified briefing led him to warn of an “insane” plan to resume major attacks after Tuesday’s midterms, warning of “devastating escalation” and damage to the U.S. commitment to the rule of law; he did not specifically warn of nuclear weapons.
- Tucker Carlson claimed the Trump administration “may be within days of launching a nuclear strike” on Iran; NIAC called that possibility an “unconscionable horror.”
Why it matters: Hours before Tuesday’s midterms, the Qeshm strikes contradicted Trump’s month-old no-attack pledge while control of Congress was at stake. In the eight-month war, Abdi’s response was a demand that Congress seek answers and cut funding, just as reports of a post-election major-attack plan and nuclear-strike fears were circulating.
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