President Donald Trump blasted Iranian leadership at a Washington rally on Sunday, saying the country has no negotiable figures left—"They have no planes, no ships, no leaders, no anything… I’ve got to stop because I have to figure out with whom we are negotiating," he said.
The U.S. and Israel have already struck Iran’s top leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a series of airstrikes that have intensified over the past nine months.
Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new Supreme Leader, was seriously injured in the attacks and has yet to appear publicly, even as he issues statements from behind closed doors.
Trump, who has dispatched a third aircraft‑carrier group and 10,000 sailors and Marines to the region, hinted that U.S. strikes could resume following the November 3 midterm elections.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi countered on Sunday that any resumption of war would not alter the country’s firm positions; he warned that shipping through the Strait of Hormuz would change in the post‑war period.
The U.S. move, coupled with Iran’s insistence on unchanged policies, has reignited tensions in an area that already sees sporadic flare‑ups, potentially affecting global oil flows and maritime security.
Trump’s explicit mention of a post‑midterm strike schedule signals a shift in U.S. strategy, putting the next 14 days before the November 3 elections under a new, more aggressive lens.