Trump says Iran war will end 'right after the election' as more forces deploy
About 9,000 more US sailors and Marines are heading to the region, and the President told TIME that heavier strikes after the midterms are possible.
President Donald Trump said this week the US would win its war with Iran "right after the election," as two more naval groups head to the Middle East.
President Donald Trump said this week that the United States would win its war with Iran "right after the election," and possibly before it, as the Pentagon sent about 9,000 more sailors and Marines to the region.
Speaking at a truck plant in Denton, Texas, on Thursday night, Trump said Iran "is ready to fold up." In an interview with TIME, he said ramped-up strikes on Iran after the November 3 midterm elections were "possible."
The comments tie the months-long conflict directly to the political calendar. Polls show voters disapprove of Trump's handling of the war, which has driven up fuel prices, according to Bloomberg.
"I'm ensuring that Iran will be very quickly ended," Trump said in Texas.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the USS Makin Island amphibious group are deploying with about 7,000 sailors and 2,000 Marines, CBS News reported. They are expected to arrive by the end of October, bringing US forces in the region to about 20,000.
There is no ceasefire. Iran rejected a recent US proposal on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and Trump believes Tehran is stalling until after the midterms, Bloomberg reported. The two sides disagree on the order in which steps to reopen the strait would happen, according to CBS.
On Friday, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, special envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, held hours of talks at Camp David on the war and on the Saudi-Houthi conflict in Yemen. It is not clear what, if anything, was decided.
Trump also threatened retaliation over an attack on a FlyDubai flight from the United Arab Emirates to Tel Aviv. The plane, carrying about 180 passengers, diverted to Saudi Arabia after the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain.
Asked whether Iran was behind it, Trump said, "based on what I'm hearing is yes." He added: "Oh, they'll be hit very hard. Don't worry." No evidence of an Iranian role has been made public.
On Wednesday, Trump said 18 US service members had been killed in the conflict and claimed "virtually total control of the Hormuz Strait," ABC News reported.
The war's economic cost is also mounting. On Friday the Group of Seven agreed to release 100 million barrels of emergency oil and diesel stocks, and a tanker was hit by an unidentified projectile in the strait.
"We could leave tomorrow, and it would take them years to rebuild from what we did to them," Trump said.
The midterms are a month away. The additional forces are due in the region before voters go to the polls.
