President Donald Trump is priming the American public for an intensified hot war with Iran. On Oct. 8, Trump declared on Truth Social that “We will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections,” implicitly leaving the door open to renewed escalation after the Nov. 3 vote. On Oct. 13, Trump accused the Houthis, Iran’s proxy force in Yemen, of striking Saudi Arabia to drive up oil prices ahead of the midterm elections and said he would make a decision on Iran “very soon.”
Strong words, but does the Trump administration have the desire to match its bark with bite? Circumstantial evidence suggests no. Despite repeated entreaties for assistance from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the U.S. has declined to join Riyadh’s military campaign to reassert Yemeni government control over the Red Sea coast. Negotiations on reopening the Strait of Hormuz continue under the shadow of renewed war. America’s depleted stocks of Patriot interceptors and Tomahawk cruise missiles have pushed the Pentagon toward an industrial rebuild that a wider war would undermine.
