President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will not order a resumption of military strikes on Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections in the United States, writing in a social media post obtained by the Associated Press and Reuters that the United States "will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd" [E1][E3][E10][E13].
"We are having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran," Trump wrote on Truth Social [E4][E11].
The Associated Press reported that Trump, while stumping for Republicans this week, has hinted he was confident about an endgame to the war in the days before or after the election, while also hinting that he remained open to resuming full-scale military operations against Iran [E2].
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday said he expected Tehran would offer a formal reply within days, the Associated Press reported [E5].
United States officials have said a third aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and thousands of troops aboard it and accompanying ships could arrive as early as the end of October [E6].
This paper recorded on 2 October that a US official who was not named told Al Jazeera the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group left its San Diego base on Sunday, bound for the region, followed a day later by the Makin Island Marine Expeditionary Force, carrying more than 2,000 Marines [E14].
Trump's announcement was made the same day the USS Abraham Lincoln was due to arrive at its home port in San Diego after a record-long deployment in support of the Iran war [E7].
In August the USS George Washington, which is usually based in Asia, relieved the Lincoln [E8].
The other aircraft carrier in the Middle East, the USS George H.W. Bush, has been deployed for about six months, but it pulled into Phuket, Thailand, for a port visit several days ago [E9].
On 8 October this paper recorded a tanker hit by projectiles north of Qatar. Trump said on Truth Social that the US blockade of Iranian ports remains in effect and that oil is flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported [E12].