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Reuters

US President Donald Trump said he expected the war with Iran to end after the November US midterm elections and threatened again to attack a site associated with the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme after the two sides launched their biggest wave of attacks on shipping since the start of the six-month-old war.
Tensions in the region were high, with Saudi civil defence authorities on Thursday issuing emergency alerts in ‌the southwest city of Khamis Mushait for the fourth time in 24 hours, as clashes flared with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.
Brent crude prices hovered above US$100 a barrel as supply routes through both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea remained heavily disrupted.
Iran said it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after the US sank five Iranian oil tankers, the latest in a series of tit-for-tat strikes that have signalled scant chance of an imminent end to hostilities.
The war and subsequent increase in fuel prices have helped drive Trump’s popularity to record lows. The president said Tehran was trying ⁠to influence the November US midterm elections, which will determine whether his Republican Party retains control of Congress.
“I think war is going to end immediately after the ‌election because they can’t hold out any longer. They’re desperate to try and affect the election,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday.

Trump has previously set deadlines for the war to end and repeatedly threatened escalations while leaving room for talks. In a social media post in August, he declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iran - a statement echoing former president George W. Bush’s premature 2003 declaration regarding the Iraq war.
The Wall Street Journal reported later that top White House advisers, including Vice-President ‌J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have privately warned Trump that the conflict could extend through the remainder of his presidency, ⁠which ends in January 2029. Reuters could ⁠not immediately verify the report.
Trump also said the US may hit Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, a heavily fortified site that hosts two deeply buried tunnel complexes near Iran’s damaged Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
“We notice there’s a little ‌activity at Pickaxe. I would advise Iran not to get cute because we will have to hit them very hard,” Trump said in a speech at the midterm Republican convention. Trump has been threatening strikes on ‌Pickaxe Mountain since ‌at least mid-July.
The US and Israel launched military strikes on Iran in February partly due to concerns over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Iran says its nuclear activities are ‌for peaceful purposes.

In recent weeks Washington had cited increasing success guiding tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about a fifth of oil supplies before the ⁠war. But a resumption of fighting this month appears to have set back any such gradual reopening. Just seven vessels transited the strait on Wednesday, half the 10-day average, ⁠preliminary ship-tracking data showed on Thursday.
Fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in Yemen has also escalated in the past few days, a second theatre of war that threatens global energy supplies from the Middle East.
At least 73 people were wounded in four southern Saudi cities, including Khamis Mushait, ‌in recent Houthi attacks on the world’s ‌largest oil exporter, the Saudi-led coalition said on Tuesday.
The militant group said it attacked an airbase in the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait and oil infrastructure in nearby cities in one of the biggest attacks on Saudi Arabia since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran in February.
Saudi civil defence authorities issued an all-clear on Thursday following another emergency alert declared in Khamis Mushait.
Additional reporting by Tribune News Service


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A mural depicting an Iranian military drone in Tehran. Photo: WANA via Reuters

A June 21 satellite view shows vehicles at an entrance to Pickaxe Mountain tunnels of Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. Photo: Vantor via Reuters

Smoke billowing from an Aramco oil depot near the Saudi city of Abha following a Houthi attack this week. Photo: Planet Labs via AFP

Nuclear agency board refers Iran to UN Security Council for first time in 20 years

A satellite image taken in February shows a new roof over a previously destroyed building at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site. Image: Planet Labs PBC via Reuters

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi. Photo: AFP

Iran says captured US underwater drone in Strait of Hormuz

This image shows what Iran described as a captured US military underwater drone at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. Photo: Sepahnews via AP

The captured underwater drone. Photo: Sepahnews via AFP

Iran, US engage in wave of tit-for-tat attacks on shipping

 Iranian crude oil carrier M/T Riesco burns as it sinks after being struck. Photo: CENTCOM via Reuters

Jordanian air defences engaging missiles launched from Iran. Photo: EPA

Iranian oil tankers after being struck by US forces. Photo: CENTCOM via Reuters

A frame grab on Wednesday shows damage following Iran-backed Houthi strikes at an undisclosed location in southern Saudi Arabia. Photo: Handout / Saudi Ministry of Media / AFP

US targets Iran’s airlines with sweeping new sanctions

An Iranian airline Mahan Air plane lands at what is said to be Hodeidah airport in Yemen in footage released in July. Photo: Al Masirah TV via Reuters

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a press conference in Asheville, North Carolina, on September 1. Photo: Reuters

Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz are seen from Musandam, Oman, on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

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US president claims Tehran is trying to influence vote as he warns against activity at underground nuclear site


US president claims Tehran is trying to influence vote as he warns against activity at underground nuclear site.


Trump offers new timeline on Iran war: end after US midterm elections

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}US president claims Tehran is trying to influence vote as he warns against activity at underground nuclear site

US president claims Tehran is trying to influence vote as he warns against activity at underground nuclear site