Trump holds off on Iran strikes as Netanyahu presses for action

The question of whether the United States will return to major combat against Iran is hanging over Tuesday's midterm elections, as President Donald Trump weighs pressure from Israel against a diplomatic channel that both Washington and Tehran say is still open.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pressing Trump to strike Iran immediately after the Nov. 3 vote, while Trump wants to give negotiations more time for now, Axios reported on Sunday, citing an Israeli source and a U.S. source. Iran, meanwhile, says it could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days if Washington accepts its conditions for ending the war.

What happened on the Trump-Netanyahu call?

The two leaders spoke by phone on Saturday about the state of U.S. talks with Iran and how quickly to return to combat, according to Axios. The Israeli source described the call as "tough." The U.S. source called it direct. Axios reported that Netanyahu is concerned about Trump's approach.

Trump confirmed on Sunday that he had spoken with Netanyahu about Iran and described it as a very good talk, without giving details. Netanyahu's office did not comment, according to Euronews.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, denied the report. "Prime Minister Netanyahu is not pressing President Trump," he said, according to Iran International, which reported that he also dismissed claims that a nuclear attack was under consideration.

The call came at a sensitive moment for Netanyahu at home. Israel's Oct. 27 election left his Likud party as the largest in parliament, but neither his bloc nor the opposition won a clear majority, and his path to forming a new government remains uncertain.

Is Trump planning new strikes on Iran?

According to Axios, the administration is pursuing diplomacy and military preparations at the same time, the same approach it took before Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025 and Operation Epic Fury in February 2026. Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, briefed Trump at the White House on Thursday about possible military operations against Iran, according to reports cited by Israel National News.

In public, Trump has sent mixed signals. He told reporters on Saturday that negotiations were going fine and that he was not "in much of a hurry" to reach a deal. In the same remarks, he said the United States still needed to "take care" of one or two Iranian nuclear sites and named Pickaxe Mountain, a site in central Iran that Washington suspects houses nuclear infrastructure. Tehran denies that. "We can do that in 10 minutes," Trump said of the site, according to Iran International. NewsCubby laid out Trump's choice between a deal and military action last week.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Atlanta on Saturday that Trump had not decided whether to launch further strikes and preferred a diplomatic solution. Rubio also said diplomatic contacts with Iran had continued throughout. "Talks have actually never stopped," he said, according to Al Jazeera.

Vice President JD Vance sent a letter last week to Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, about restarting negotiations. Rezaei said on Saturday that he had read the letter but had not replied, and that Washington's tone had changed. He also said the United States must meet Iran's conditions before any talks can begin.

Where do the Doha talks stand?

Qatar has led the latest mediation. Qatari officials held talks in Tehran on Friday before the discussions moved to Doha on Saturday, and the contacts were coordinated with Washington, an official told Reuters. Pakistani mediators also took part, according to Al Jazeera. Iranian negotiators spent three straight days in Doha before leaving on Sunday.

An official briefed on the talks told Reuters on Monday that the Iranian team did not leave because of difficulties, that a draft proposal to end the war is being circulated and that a follow-up meeting is possible. Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, traveled to Doha on Monday to help draft a preliminary agreement, according to Euronews.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, said on Monday that Tehran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days if the United States accepted its demands. When Iran first put the idea to Washington through Qatar in September, it proposed seven days. Baghaei said messages are being exchanged with the United States through mediators and that "everything depends" on Washington accepting Iran's terms.

Those terms include ending the war on all fronts, unfreezing Iranian assets abroad, lifting sanctions on Iran's oil sector and ending the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports. In an Al Jazeera interview released on Sunday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added more requirements: U.S. acceptance of a new shipping route through the strait agreed between Iran and Oman, fewer U.S. troops in the region and the removal of sanctions imposed since August. Araghchi said Tehran is prepared for "both defence and diplomacy," according to Reuters, and that the delegation had no plans to meet U.S. officials directly.

Not every Iranian official sounds as open. Ali Nikzad, the deputy speaker of Iran's parliament, said on Sunday that "the window for negotiations with our adversaries is now closed," according to Iran International, and said Iran would not enter nuclear talks under pressure. Baghaei warned on Monday that any military attack on Iran would be met with a powerful, immediate and comprehensive response, and Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, warned over the weekend of a response without geographic limits if the United States attacks again. NewsCubby reported earlier on that warning.

At the Manama Dialogue security forum in Bahrain, Donald Blome, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, said Washington's offer to negotiate remains on the table but that the United States could take a different course and would not allow Iran to threaten the region and the global economy, according to the Associated Press.

How far does the war reach beyond the region?

The war began in late February. Since then, Iran says it has kept control over the Strait of Hormuz and has regularly targeted ships that try to cross without its permission, while the United States has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports. Earlier U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iran's previous supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and other senior Revolutionary Guard commanders. A memorandum of understanding signed in June, with help from Qatar and Pakistan, collapsed in August.

The fighting has hit the global energy market. Qatar, which depends on the strait to ship its liquefied natural gas, almost completely halted its exports for three months starting in March. On Friday, the same day Qatari mediators were in Tehran, a Qatari gas carrier, the Al Mayeda, was struck by what its owner described as unidentified objects in the Persian Gulf. No crew members were hurt, and the ship remained operational. Qatar condemned the attack.

Other countries are also pushing for a deal. China said it is sending its special envoy, Zhai Jun, to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia to press all sides to stop the fighting, and Beijing and Muscat jointly urged Washington and Tehran to return to the earlier memorandum. Anwar Gargash, an adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, said his country does not want a long crisis with Iran but that trust had been damaged by Iran's attack on the UAE.

The war is also part of the backdrop at home. Fox News reported that Republicans face persistent inflation tied in part to the war, which polls show is unpopular, and Euronews reported that economic pressure linked to the conflict has increased the likelihood of Republican losses in Congress. NewsCubby's election-eve guide covers the races that will decide control.

What comes next?

The next steps depend on whether the draft proposal circulating among mediators can bridge the gap between Iran's demands and Washington's position. A follow-up meeting in Doha is possible, according to the official who spoke to Reuters, but no date has been announced.

Election results on Wednesday will arrive on the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, when 52 American diplomats were held for more than a year. Tehran-organized demonstrations against the United States are expected across Iran, and billboards showing Trump behind prison bars have gone up in the capital in recent days, Euronews reported.

Trump has not announced any decision on new strikes. For now, the White House is keeping both options open: talks through Qatar and, according to Axios, preparations for a possible return to major combat.

*Want more? Explore today's headlines on NewsCubby and join My Day free to make NewsCubby part of your day.*

*ARCHIVE PHOTO: The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower transits the Strait of Hormuz on July 21, 2016. Photo: U.S. Navy / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.*

*NewsCubby articles are produced with AI assistance and reviewed by humans.*