No Iran strike until after midterms, Trump says

The United States will not carry out any attack on Iran until after the Nov. 3 midterm elections, President Donald Trump said Thursday. U.S. negotiators were holding productive conversations with Iranian leaders, he said. He also reiterated his pledge to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The statement came after several media reports that Trump was planning a new, large-scale attack on Iran.

The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports in and near the Strait of Hormuz would continue, Trump said. Oil transports from other countries through the strait were ongoing, with 22 million barrels passing through overnight, he said.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials said Thursday that their navy forced an aggressor’s fleet to retreat from the Persian Gulf, according to the state-controlled Islamic Republic News Agency. The statement possibly referred to the return of the USS Abraham Lincoln from a record-breaking deployment, including months spent blockading Iran. Iran was ready to respond to any threat, the Iranian officials said.

Dig deeper: Read Liz Lykins’ report on the recent surge of U.S. deployments to the Middle East.