Trump says he’s not weighing Iran strikes after midterms

U.S. President Donald Trump said “no” on Monday when asked whether he was considering strikes on Iran after Tuesday’s midterm elections, a day after Axios reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had urged him to attack right after the vote.

Trump’s answer was reported by Reuters, according to The Jerusalem Post. He also said Iran wanted a deal and that one “could happen,” adding, “We’re not going to allow Iran ever to have a nuclear weapon.”

Axios, citing one Israeli and one U.S. source, reported that the two leaders spoke Saturday and that Trump preferred to let negotiations continue. The Israeli source called the call “tough” and the U.S. source called it “direct,” according to accounts of the report in The Jerusalem Post and Iran International. The White House and Netanyahu’s office declined to comment. This remains a developing account resting on unnamed sources.

Israel disputes it. “Prime Minister Netanyahu is not pressing President Trump,” Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, told Al Arabiya English on Monday, Iran International reported. He also said, “The military is prepared, we are ready and if we will need to protect our people, we will do it.”

Trump confirmed the call, describing it as “a very good talk.” His other recent remarks have been mixed. He said he was not “in much of a hurry,” but also that “one or two” Iranian sites remain to be dealt with, including the suspected nuclear facility at Pickaxe Mountain. “We can do that in 10 minutes. We have that planned,” he said, according to The Jerusalem Post. At a rally in Iowa on Sunday, he said “at some point we’re going to have to give them the hammer,” The Express Tribune reported.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that Trump “hasn’t made a decision” and that Washington prefers a peaceful resolution, Iran International reported.

On the diplomatic track, Iranian negotiators spent a third straight day with Qatari mediators in Doha on Sunday, according to Reuters as cited by The Jerusalem Post. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the state news agency IRNA on Monday that Tehran is in “intensive shuttle diplomacy” through Qatar and Pakistan, and that “everything depends on how much political rationality prevails on the American side,” the Tribune reported. He cautioned that no agreement has been reached.

Iran International said Iranian sources insist on Tehran’s conditions, including lifting the blockade of Iranian ports, releasing frozen assets and waiving oil sanctions. Araghchi said reopening the Strait of Hormuz depends on those conditions being accepted, and warned that a new attack would bring a far harsher response. Some Iranian officials took a harder line, with a deputy parliament speaker saying the window for talks is closed, Iran International reported.

Energy prices are being felt on both sides of the border. Reuters has reported the war is a leading cause of high gasoline prices weighing on U.S. voters, The Jerusalem Post said. In Canada, gas prices are up 27.8 per cent in our latest cost-of-living report, and the Bank of Canada raised its key rate to 2.5 per cent last week.

Trump ruled out strikes before the midterms in early October. Regional governments have since urged diplomacy, while Netanyahu faces an unsettled result from Israel’s own election.

File photo: Trump and Netanyahu at a White House news conference on Sept. 29, 2025. Photo: The White House, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. It does not show the recent call.

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