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Trump rules out new Iran strikes before Nov. 3 midterms

The president said talks with Tehran are productive and the naval blockade stays in place, a day after a report that the Pentagon was drafting strike options.

Motion Media News Staff

Oct 9, 2026

3 minutes

President Trump, wearing a red cap, sits in a leather chair beneath the presidential seal in the Situation Room while Vice President Vance, out of focus, sits in the foreground.

Photo: The White House (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons (source)

President Donald Trump said Thursday, Oct. 8, that the United States will not attack Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, pointing to what he called "productive discussions" with Tehran, The Hill reported.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that "we will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections." He said the U.S. blockade "will remain in full force and effect" and ended the post with: "IRAN WILL NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!" The post also claimed that 22 million barrels of oil had moved through the Strait of Hormuz the night before, none of it to or from Iran.

Reports of strike planning

The pledge came a day after The Atlantic reported that the Pentagon, at the White House's request, was drawing up options for hitting Iranian targets ahead of the vote, according to The Hill and AFP. The New York Times reported Thursday that the planning was going ahead despite what it called Trump's "ambivalence," AFP said.

Earlier Thursday, a White House official told The Hill that "the Commander-in-Chief has all options available at any time." The Pentagon has sent more than 4,000 Marines and sailors on three warships, led by the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island, to the Central Command region, and the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is on its way to replace the USS George Washington in the region, The Hill reported.

Markets and Tehran's response

Oil kept climbing after the post. Brent crude touched nearly $106 a barrel before settling at $104.28, up 4% on the day, and U.S. crude closed 3.6% higher at $91.49, NBC News reported. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to its lowest level since the previous Friday, while the S&P 500 lost 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.2%, according to NBC News.

The national average for regular gasoline was $4.36 a gallon on Thursday, more than 45% above its level on Feb. 28, the day U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran began the war, NBC News reported. Traffic through Hormuz averaged fewer than 23 ships a day from Sept. 28 through Oct. 4, the outlet said, citing MarineTraffic data.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkmenistan, said Tehran was "engaged in dialogue, but every time we negotiate with the United States, they attack again," according to Iranian state media cited by AFP. He said Iran wants a "final framework" to end the war. Putin said Russia was ready to do "everything that is in our power" to help settle the conflict, AFP reported.

What's next

Trump's statement covers only the period before the Nov. 3 vote, and early voting is already underway, NBC News noted. Putin traveled to Turkmenistan for a Commonwealth of Independent States summit that opens Friday in the resort of Avaza, according to AFP.