Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for another wave of strikes on Iran after Tuesday’s (November 3, 2026) midterm elections in the United States, according to two regional officials and a third person familiar with the matter.
Netanyahu to form an emergency government after he and his far-right allies lost their parliamentary majority in last week’s elections. A return to full-scale war with Iran could help Mr. U.S. President Donald Trump has alternated between threatening major strikes while pushing for a deal with Iran. Netanyahu was working with senior officials in the U.S. administration to persuade Mr. Trump to launch a quick but extensive air campaign and that the president does not appear to have made a decision. Mr. Netanyahu pressed for strikes during a call over the weekend with Mr. Iran-backed militias in Iraq could also get involved. That official, and the person familiar with the Netanyahu-Trump call, were not authorised to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Israeli government did not immediately comment. The White House did not directly respond to questions about Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Trump’s discussion of potential new strikes during the weekend call. Mr. Mr. Mr. Netanyahu has not commented on Iran since the election, and there was no word from his office on the latest call with Mr. Trump. “Qatar is tirelessly working on a diplomatic offramp with the region’s backing while Israel is looking for military ways to throw the region under the bus. Iran wants guarantees that the U.S. will implement its side of any agreement. The U.S. and Israel have attacked Iran twice while it was engaged in negotiations over its disputed nuclear program. Iranian officials say publicly they are prepared for war or diplomacy. A recent analysis by The Associated Press found that Iranian strikes on more than two dozen U.S. bases since the start of the war have caused billions of dollars in equipment damage. Mr.
Trump told reporters on Sunday (November 1, 2026) that he and Mr. Netanyahu had pushed for renewed strikes even before the Israeli election as he sought to highlight his security credentials to a public deeply scarred by Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack. Khamenei has not been seen publicly since the opening strikes by Israel and the U.S. on February 28 killed his father, the previous supreme leader.
Because they were discussing classified briefings they had received from American, and in one case Israeli, officials, the two officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
The two officials said diplomatic efforts have made progress, with Qatari mediators holding two rounds of talks last week with Iranian officials. The two officials said the mediators are trying to advance a framework for Iran to cease its attacks in the Strait of Hormuz in return for the U.S. lifting its blockade on Iran’s ports. They said more talks are planned for this week. One official said Mr. Trump, who would not commit to taking military action, according to a person who was briefed on it. Other U.S. allies in West Asia are warning against more strikes, saying it would destabilise the region and could lead Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen to step up their attacks on Saudi Arabia and Red Sea shipping, a third regional official said. Netanyahu had a “very good” call the day before. He said they discussed Iran but gave no details. “The standoff in the Gulf between the U.S. and Iran is really between Qatar and Israel,” Andreas Krieg, a professor at King’s College London, who previously worked as an adviser to Qatar’s military, said on X. The new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, met with Iran’s military chiefs and said the response to “any kind and level of threat” from the U.S. or Israel should be immediate and without “geographic limits,” and urged an expansion of the list of potential targets.
He gave no details about the letter he received from U.S. Vice President J.D. October saw the most attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz since March, as Iran has tried to ramp up economic pressure on the U.S. to get it to lift its blockade. The mood was grim at the Manama Dialogue, an annual security summit in Bahrain organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, told state television that “the tone has completely changed” from the U.S. and called it a “very good sign. Vance, which Iran acknowledged last week, and said he had not responded. United Arab Emirates presidential adviser Anwar Gargash told attendees that the U.S. and Iranian stances are far apart, and “if these positions are not bridged, then we have to worry about the worst.”
Asked at a news conference on Saturday (October 31, 2026) about the possibility of new U.S. strikes on Iran and Iranian retaliation, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio would not say what would happen next but reiterated that the Trump administration prefers a diplomatic solution and that talks were ongoing. Trump. Gulf nations have spent billions of dollars to boost their defence capabilities since the war began. China and Oman called for a return to dialogue.
“He hasn’t made a decision,” Mr. Rubio said, referring to Mr. “He’d prefer to solve it diplomatically,” Mr. Rubio said, adding that Mr. Trump has “incredible confidence” in military action if that is needed. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told the gathering in Bahrain that the next escalation “will be more dangerous, more destructive, and it will lead to nowhere. China will send a special envoy to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia in early to mid-November, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters Monday. “The Middle East Gulf region should not become an arena for great-power rivalry and geopolitical conflict,” Chinese President Xi Jinping told Oman’s sultan, according to a readout from China’s Foreign Ministry.
