U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the six-month war with Iran would end immediately after the November midterm elections, accusing Tehran of trying to influence the vote while renewing threats to strike a heavily fortified nuclear-linked site.
“I think war is going to end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer. They’re desperate to try and affect the election,” Trump told reporters.
He has previously set deadlines that have passed without resolution. The conflict, which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes in February over concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme, has driven fuel prices higher and weighed on the president’s popularity.
Trump also warned Iran against activity at Pickaxe Mountain, a deep underground complex near the damaged Natanz uranium enrichment facility that hosts two tunnel systems.
“We notice there’s a little activity at Pickaxe. I would advise Iran not to get cute because we will have to hit them very hard,” he said in a speech at a Republican midterm convention.
The site has been under construction since around 2020 and is estimated to lie more than 100 metres underground; Trump has threatened it since at least mid-July. Iran maintains its nuclear activities are peaceful.
The remarks came as the two sides launched their biggest wave of attacks on shipping since the war began. Iran said it struck 10 vessels near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after the United States sank five Iranian oil tankers. Just seven ships transited the strait that day, about half the recent 10-day average, keeping a waterway that once carried roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies heavily disrupted.
Brent crude hovered above $100 a barrel on Thursday. Tensions also flared on a second front, with Saudi civil defence issuing emergency alerts in the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait for the fourth time in 24 hours amid clashes with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.
The Wall Street Journal later reported that top advisers, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have privately warned Trump the conflict could stretch through the remainder of his presidency, which ends in January 2029.
Source: Reuters
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