Josh Weiner
President Trump said it is “getting to be decision time” on whether to pursue a deal with Tehran or resume military strikes, as Iranian and Houthi threats against Americans in the Middle East continue to intensify.
In an interview with Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, Trump framed the choice bluntly: “I have a decision to make: Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal?”
Trump has repeatedly suggested that US strikes on Iran could resume after the November 3 midterm elections, and has already moved additional forces toward the region, including a third aircraft carrier strike group sent to the Persian Gulf.
Officials have warned that the period between the midterm elections and the seating of the new Congress could prove particularly dangerous, a window in which military options may be easier to pursue with less immediate political constraint.
Despite the buildup in forces, a negotiated settlement is still viewed by officials as the most likely path to actually ending the conflict, even as Trump's public rhetoric keeps the more aggressive option explicitly on the table.
With both a deal and a resumption of strikes presented as live options rather than hypotheticals, the weeks immediately following the midterms are shaping up as a critical juncture for whether the nine-month conflict with Iran escalates further or moves toward resolution.
