Trump ‘preparing for Iran strikes before midterms’

Donald Trump could launch strikes against Iran before November’s midterm elections , US sources have claimed. The US president has asked the Pentagon to draw up plans to attack Iranian targets in a display of strength before the election, according to The Atlantic. “It would make the president look like he got a win,” a Republican source claimed. “The department’s job is to develop and present military options to the president,” a Pentagon official said when asked for comment, without further clarification.

However, the move could come as a blow to Republicans who are facing difficult re-election battles amid an unpopular war that has spurred inflation and caused fuel prices to spike. Military plans are reportedly being developed by US Central Command to provide Mr Trump with options ranging from limited strikes to large-scale bombardments. One possible target is said to be Iran’s energy industry. The plan’s advocates within the Trump administration believe a display of military force would give Republicans momentum leading into the midterms, where they are expected to lose both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

As his party’s candidates are dragged down by Mr Trump’s dire poll ratings, which hit a record low over the weekend, Republican seats including Texas, Kansas and Iowa are being increasingly targeted by Democrats. Hawks in the administration believe a pre-midterm attack would show the president’s determination to reduce fuel prices – although renewed fighting risks driving them up instead. It would also further deplete the US munitions stockpiles , which Mr Trump has admitted are running low despite previous denials by top officials including Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary.

And retaliatory strikes from Iran would expose US troops – 50,000 of whom are stationed in the Middle East – and its Gulf allies to danger. Sources conceded that renewed strikes would not lower prices, reopen negotiations with Tehran or unblock the Strait of Hormuz . The Iranian regime has sought to choke off the waterway since February, although states such as the United Arab Emirates are successfully smuggling around 10 million barrels daily through it.

In a meeting with donors in September, Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate candidate in Texas, complained that the Iran war was hurting his campaign. “It’s the war, it’s gas prices, it’s diesel,” he said, according to an Axios report published on Wednesday. Mr Trump has previously suggested he was waiting until after the midterms before embarking on a major strategy shift in the Middle East. “I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election because it doesn’t make sense for them not to,” he told the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 22.

If no agreement were struck, he said, he would “annihilate the Islamic Republic”. He told Time Magazine on Oct 1 he could ramp up bombing after the midterms, claiming: “We’ve been stocking up for the last six months.”