Trump Rules Out Immediate Strikes On Iran, But All Belligerents In The Conflict Are Maintaining An Aggressive Posture

Tensions between Tehran and Washington, as well as Tel Aviv, remain high in the buildup to both the November midterms and the Israeli elections.

Despite telling reporters outside the White House on Sunday that “there will not be a strike [on Iran] today,” Trump’s rhetoric on the issue remained highly confrontational during a midterm rally he held in Michigan later that same day.

“The nastiest, the meanest, the number one state sponsor of terror is Iran … I thought gas would be double and triple [the price it currently is], it’s a small price to pay for taking a nuclear weapon away from maniacs,” the president told supporters in Port Huron.

Trump also doubled down on the decision to go to war in the first place, suggesting that he would have no qualms about making the decision to initiate hostilities again.

Tehran, for its part, is also maintaining an aggressive posture. The New York Times reported on Saturday that two Iranian officials, one of whom belonged to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps would expand the scope of their targets to include U.S. diplomats and personnel if the war escalates again.

Iran also seems to be preparing for a long conflict, contradicting repeated claims by President Trump that the war is close to ending.

“The Americans entered a quagmire due to their own miscalculations, and it is up to them to take the necessary steps to extricate themselves,” Iranian Parliament speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf said on Sunday.

Israel, which has been the U.S.’s junior partner in prosecuting the conflict against Tehran, is also retaining a state of heightened preparedness, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning repeatedly that Iran could attack before Israel’s upcoming legislative elections on Tuesday October 27.

“We have intelligence signs that our enemies, Iran and its proxies, could challenge us with attacks in order to disrupt the elections,” Netanyahu said on Sunday.

The oil markets are unlikely to be calmed by the standoffish rhetoric of the weekend. Brent Crude, the international pricing benchmark, hit a six-month high on Friday, topping $117 a barrel, driven by fears of escalation of conflict in the Middle East.

The U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, also hit a several month high on Friday, surpassing $103 for the first time since May.

The issue of whether or not the conflict will escalate to the intensity seen in late February and early March when the U.S. and Israel launched the strikes, or in April and May after the collapse of bilateral negotiations, seems largely subject to the discretion of the White House.

“Do I make a deal with them or do I finish them off? That’s the only question,” Trump told FOX News in an interview which aired on Sunday.