Trump Says US May Strike Iran Again After Midterms Plans

Donald Trump said Thursday that the United States could hit Iran again. He spoke to reporters outside the White House before leaving for a campaign rally in Iowa. "This should have been done a long time ago by other presidents, the Iran war. And we've knocked the hell out of them. And we may do it a little bit further," Trump said, Arutz Sheva reported.

The New York Times has reported that American and Israeli military officials prepared detailed plans for a new round of attacks on Iran. Under those plans, a fresh campaign could begin after the November 3 congressional midterm elections.

Before his departure, Trump defended the military campaign against Tehran. He said he is "doing what should have been done by other presidents. There's a price to pay, which I knew immediately when I did it." He added: "But we can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. I mean, in one way, people probably don't love it. But many people, many great patriots really love it."

At the Iowa rally on Thursday night, Trump told supporters that the campaign against Iran would soon be over. He linked its end to fuel costs. "We're gonna have Iran finished very soon, one way or the other. It's almost insignificant to me which way," he said. "It's going to be done very soon, and your gasoline prices and your oil is going to come tumbling down."

He struck a similar note on Wednesday at a rally in South Carolina. There he said the conflict would "end very soon. We could leave now, but we want to make sure it lasts for a long time." Earlier that day, speaking outside the White House, he called the campaign "one of the greatest things we've done".

Senior IDF officials took a more measured position on Thursday evening. Speaking to i24News military correspondent Yoav Yehoshua, they said "there is no reason to attack Iran before the elections" unless Israel sees the other side preparing to fire. "Everything else can wait," they said.

The same officials rejected a Financial Times report that Trump had halted a planned Israeli strike about two weeks earlier. "Trump did not stop us from striking Iran because it was not on the table," they said. They confirmed that readiness had been raised in line with American guidance.