President Donald Trump said Thursday the United States will not resume military strikes on Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, even as the Pentagon keeps pushing more warships and troops toward the region and American drivers keep absorbing the cost of a war that has dragged on for months. Trump described his administration's ongoing talks with Tehran as productive, while Iranian officials said they had received a new U.S. counterproposal and expected to respond within days.
Trump Says Talks Are Productive, Leaves Door Open After Election
Trump said the United States will not order a resumption of military strikes on Iran before the midterm elections, which are set for Nov. 3, according to chicagotribune.com. He said his team has been having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and he hinted he was confident an endgame to the war could arrive in the days just before or after the election. Even so, the outlet reported that Trump remained open to resuming full-scale military operations against Iran once the vote has passed.
On the diplomatic track, Iranian officials said Tehran had received a U.S. counterproposal, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran expected to offer a formal reply within days, per the same report. That exchange follows a rockier patch in September, when the Trump administration rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the U.S. met certain conditions — a stretch during which negotiations between the two countries appeared to be at a standstill.
A Third Carrier Strike Group Heads to the Region
Even as Trump talks up diplomacy, the military buildup hasn't slowed. The U.S. is dispatching a third aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East, including the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the USS Makin Island amphibious readiness group, according to The Guardian. Those ships together carry more than 7,000 sailors and 2,000 Marines, the paper reported, and a U.S. official said three carriers could be in the region as early as the end of October.
The Theodore Roosevelt and the thousands of troops aboard it and accompanying ships could arrive in the region by that same timeframe, the Chicago Tribune reported, citing the broader buildup of forces the U.S. military has dispatched to the Middle East. Trump also said the U.S. naval blockade of Iran would remain in place and that Tehran would not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon, according to CNBC. Separately, The Atlantic reported that the White House had asked the Pentagon to develop strike options against Iranian targets that could be used before the midterms, with plans being developed by U.S. Central Command — though the size, targets and whether the administration will ultimately proceed remain under debate, according to The Atlantic.
USS Lincoln Comes Home After a Record 265 Days at Sea
One symbol of the war's toll pulled into San Diego Thursday. The USS Abraham Lincoln returned home after supporting the Iran war during a record-long deployment of 265 uninterrupted days at sea, according to NPR. Per a Presidential Unit Citation cited by the outlet, the Lincoln and its strike group executed 3,693 combat missions, delivered 1.37 million pounds of ordnance and launched 450 Tomahawk cruise missiles during the deployment.
The cost to the crew was steep. NPR reported that the Navy told lawmakers eight sailors attempted suicide during the record-setting deployment, and that the Lincoln's crew experienced stress and poor mental health, along with supply shortages that included food and hygiene products. The Lincoln had been relieved in Asia by the USS George Washington in August, while the USS George H.W. Bush — deployed in the Middle East for about six months — pulled into Phuket, Thailand, for a port visit this month, according to the Associated Press report carried by WOWT.
Gas Prices Climb as Public Support for Strikes Falls
The war's economic bite shows up most visibly at the pump. The national average gasoline price stood at $4.36 a gallon Thursday, up from $2.98 before the war began in late February, CNBC reported. AAA's average was $4.37 a gallon on October 7 and $4.36 on October 8.
Oil markets reacted directly to Trump's remarks. Brent crude had risen to about $105 a barrel before Trump's post announcing no strikes before the midterms, then dropped to $103 a barrel afterward, according to CBS News. CNBC reported that Brent crude had risen more than 4% Thursday to above $104 a barrel, and noted that crude prices have typically climbed whenever the U.S. has resumed strikes after a pause, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Public appetite for continued fighting has cooled alongside those costs. An August Reuters/Ipsos poll found just 31% of Americans supported U.S. military action against Iran, down from 37% in March, according to CNBC's report. The same poll found that 83% of Americans expected the conflict to be prolonged, underscoring the political weight hanging over Trump's promise to hold off on new strikes until after voters go to the polls Nov. 3.
