Description
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump confirmed he paused military action in the Iran war for the period leading up to the midterm elections. Now that Election Day is around the corner, there are indications Trump is preparing to resume full-scale operations.
In a Friday morning radio interview, Trump said the war "is going to be over very soon," a message he repeated throughout his final blitz of campaign stops.
At a recent rally in Florida, the president mused about launching strikes similar to those that started the war in February.
“We may do another little Epic Fury, or they’ll agree – if they’re smart, they’ll just say, ‘Let’s get down to business.’ But you know, I doubt they’ll do that because perhaps they’re not smart," Trump said.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Commander of the United States Central Command Adm. Brad Cooper made a rare visit to the White House Thursday, along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, to brief and discuss military options as they weigh a restart of major combat operations. The newspaper also reported Trump administration officials have told Arab Gulf leaders "to be prepared for a short, intense campaign after the midterm elections."
According to a recent Harvard CAPS-Harris poll, only 35% of registered voters approve of Trump's handling of the Iran war. The first seven and a half months of war have cost taxpayers more than $47 billion, according to Pentagon figures provided to Congress.
From the United States' perspective, the crux of the war is still to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Control of the Strait of Hormuz has also emerged as a top issue in need of a diplomatic resolution. The question is, will further military action put the countries closer or farther from reaching a deal that addresses both points?
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., sits on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and has been briefed by military officials on war plans if operations resume. During an event at the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington this week, he said the administration's plan is "insane" and will, in his view, only prolong the war and hurt American security interests. Months of war have strained military stockpiles, and the senator sounded unsettled by the prospect of Iranian retaliation.
“Iran has made it very clear that if military operations restart and the United States starts bombing Iran at scale, that they are going to directly target Americans in the region," Murphy said. "And I don’t think anyone should have any degree of confidence that we can protect our soldiers and our diplomats in the region. And so if the president restarts an active war with Iran, he does it with knowledge, with knowledge that it will likely end up in Americans being killed."
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