US President Donald Trump announced in a post on the social network Truth Social on Thursday, 8 October 2026, that the United States will not attack Iran before the midterm elections of 3 November. In the same post he stressed that the naval blockade of the Islamic Republic will continue at full strength and that the Islamic Republic will not obtain a nuclear weapon.
Trump wrote that constructive talks with the Islamic Republic are under way, but gave no details of those talks. In the same post he described the economic and military situation of the Islamic Republic as very bad. The statement came just one day after reports that the US military was preparing to resume large-scale military operations in Iran.
Axios report on CENTCOM's readiness
On the evening of Wednesday, 7 October, the Axios website reported, citing US officials, that the Pentagon had ordered US Central Command (CENTCOM) a few days earlier to complete the preparations needed to resume large-scale combat operations in Iran. According to the report, the order did not set a specific date for an attack and the US president had not made a final decision. Axios's sources said that if the war resumed, the Islamic Republic's energy infrastructure and nuclear facilities would be the targets of extensive bombing and the Israeli military would also take part.
Before that, The Atlantic had reported that Trump was considering an attack on Iran before the midterm elections. A White House official told Axios that all options are on the president's table, that the US controls the Strait of Hormuz and that the Islamic Republic's economy is collapsing.
Trump has set aside a new attack until 3 November, but the naval blockade and economic pressure on the Islamic Republic remain in place.
Stalled negotiations and the oil market
Trump's statement comes as the talks between the US and the Islamic Republic over enrichment have produced no result. According to Al Jazeera, US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday called a meaningful reduction in enrichment capacity a condition for ending the war, and Masoud Pezeshkian, the Islamic Republic's president, on Monday described negotiating with Washington as pointless.
Oil prices rose on Thursday under the shadow of a possible resumption of the war and, according to Al Jazeera, fell early on Friday after Trump's post. Some analysts have seen the post as an attempt to bring down fuel prices ahead of the elections.
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