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Negotiations had appeared at a standstill since Donald Trump rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under certain conditions
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Donald Trump has said the US wil not attack Iran for almost a month as claimed “productive” discussions were taking place over ending the conflict.
In a statement issued on Truth Social on Thursday evening, the US president wrote: “We are having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran. We will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd.”
The announcement appeared to quash speculation that Mr Trump and his national security team were considering restarting large-scale US military operations in Iran in the coming weeks, including potential strikes ahead of the elections.
Negotiations had appeared at a standstill since Mr Trump late last month publicly rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the US met certain conditions.
Iran, however, said last week they had received a US counterproposal.
Meanwhile, three people were killed and more than 30 were injured in strikes on airports across Saudi Arabia, the country’s civil aviation authorities said on Wednesday, amid a flare up in clashes with the Yemeni Houthi rebels.
One person was killed and eight were injured in an attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, while two were killed and 28 were injured in an attack at Abha airport, a statement read.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that had been deployed for a record 265 days at sea and supported US operations in Iran, has docked in San Diego, California.
The carrier drew national attention following reports of stress among the crew and poor mental health, as well as supply shortages. Pentagon officials downplayed those reports.
President Donald Trump defended his comments about Iran destroying U.S. cities in a lengthy Truth Social post on Thursday afternoon.
The president initially sparked backlash when, at a Monday rally in Nebraska, he said: “They could take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles; let them take out San Diego.” The White House later denounced media coverage of those remarks, clarifying that he was addressing the threat a nuclear-armed Iran could pose.
“The Fake and Artificial News is out there trying to say that I’m inviting the enemy to bomb San Diego and Los Angeles,” Trump wrote on Thursday. “In actuality, what I was talking about was that a temporary increase in the price of Gasoline is a small price to pay for Iran not having a Nuclear Weapon and, if you want to see a big price, can you imagine what it would be like if they bombed San Diego and/or Los Angeles?”
President Donald Trump swatted away a question from a female reporter at the White House when she asked him to explain his comment about Iran “taking out” Los Angeles and San Diego.
Addressing a rally crowd in Grand Island, Nebraska, Monday, the president had been discussing the Iran war driving up gas prices due to the blockading of the Strait of Hormuz, which he said was “a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.”
He then continued: “They can take out a city – let ’em take, let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. That’s – this is a very small price to pay.”
Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States is having productive discussions with Iran and will not launch an attack on the country before US midterm congressional elections in November.
“We are having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. He said the US blockade of Iranian ports remains in effect and that oil is flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.
“We will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd,” Trump said.
The U.S. military has seen 81 fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft worth as much as $3.3 billion damaged or destroyed in President Donald Trump’s war with Iran so far, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
Trump launched his Operation Epic Fury airstrikes against Tehran, in partnership with Israel, on February 28, since when it has seen airplanes, helicopters and drones hit in retaliatory strikes.
The total cited includes a costly F-35A fighter jet and a four-engine E-3 Sentry among the casualties, while MQ-9 Reaper drones, used for surveillance and search-and-rescue operations, account for more than half of the losses.
Read our full story below.
US military installations in Germany, including Ramstein and Spangdahlem air bases, are being targeted by Iranian intelligence services amid concerns over potential covert attacks linked to the Iran conflict, news outlet WirtschaftsWoche reported on Thursday.
Three weeks ago, Israel warned US and German partners of a potential threat, with concern focused on bases supporting American military operations and logistics linked to the conflict with Iran. The report cited several unnamed Western intelligence officials.
The Iranian and Israeli embassies in Berlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The German defence ministry declined comment.
“It is inappropriate to discuss matters of intelligence, and we will not comment on specific threat reporting or force protection measures,” a US European Command Spokesperson said. “US European Command remains vigilant and continuously assesses the security environment across the European theatre.”
A source told Reuters that Germany has been monitoring increased Iranian activity for weeks, without referencing what was mentioned in the WirtschaftsWoche article in particular.
A military spokesperson for Yemen’s Houthis warned workers at Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities to avoid sites the group considers targets and renewed threats of attacks against airlines and airports in a statement on Wednesday amid escalating violence between the two sides.
The flydubai co-pilot who allegedly stabbed a flight captain to hijack a plane en route to Israel referred to women as “rotten flesh” in a series of misogynistic social media posts in the years before his arrest, according to a report.
Hamam Al-Hammami, 29, is accused of attempting to crash the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on 30 September after attacking the pilot with a crash axe.
But he was stopped when passengers broke into the cockpit and tied him up with headphone wires, before a reserve flydubai pilot travelling on the flight landed the aircraft at a regional airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The Omani national was subsequently arrested and transferred to Abu Dhabi, where he is being questioned.
The USS Abraham Lincoln is returning home to San Diego Thursday after supporting the Iran war during a record long deployment of 265 uninterrupted days at sea that included reports of deteriorating conditions among its crew.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew out to the carrier on Wednesday to give the crew the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor a unit can receive that is typically reserved for significant achievement in combat.
Hegseth pushed back against what he said were efforts to turn the “Lincoln into some sort of a symbol, a symbol of dysfunction or a symbol of low morale or a symbol of a failed mission.”
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