Trump: No Attack on Iran Before the November 3 Elections — Peace or a Tactic for the Oil Price?
Trump announced that the US “will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the midterm elections” and that talks are “productive”; oil first rose, then fell, while Tehran reviews the US response on Hormuz.
Trump said in a Truth Social post late on Thursday that the US is having “productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran” and “will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the midterm elections,” scheduled for November 3. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Tehran is reviewing the US response to Iran’s seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and will respond “in the next few days,” with talks continuing through mediators.
The signals are mixed: on Monday President Masoud Pezeshkian called the negotiations “futile” and accused the US of using them to attack, and on Tuesday Vice President JD Vance demanded that Iran make a “meaningful” cut to uranium enrichment — which experts read as a possible softening of the US position, which until now demanded a complete abandonment. According to reports, Russia told Pezeshkian that it will help end the US-led war on Iran.
Oil rose on Thursday on fears of renewed fighting and fell early Friday when supply fears eased; some analysts think Trump’s statement was meant to bring the price down. At the same time, Iranian media reported “massive explosions” in the southern Strait of Hormuz, and Fars says tankers on “unauthorized” routes may have hit sea mines. The pause, then, is not peace: it is a time-limited halt whose validity ends with the vote.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 10, 2026
