US, Israel To Strike Iran After Midterms? Team Trump's Warning To Gulf

The US and Israel are preparing to launch a new round of heavy combat operations against Iran soon after the midterm elections on Tuesday, November 3. The US has reportedly warned several Gulf Arab countries to be prepared for a short, intense military campaign after the midterm elections, people briefed on the conversations told The Wall Street Journal.

According to the WSJ report, the US military is bringing in a Patriot system -- an air and missile defense system consisting of a radar set, an engagement control station, missile launchers, and Patriot missiles -- from Texas to strengthen its defenses. The US has also moved troops off bases where they were vulnerable in preparation for an escalation, officials familiar with those moves told WSJ.

Additionally, US forces have been restocking their munitions, and bomber aircraft and jet fighters are preparing for strikes, officials said. An additional aircraft carrier strike group and Marine Expeditionary Unit are also likely to join a fleet of roughly 20 other warships operating in the Middle East next month. Some ships could rotate out.

US Splurges On Iran War

The US military has spent over $47 billion on the Iran war, which is over 25 per cent higher than the Defence Department's estimate in July, according to Pentagon data obtained by news agency Reuters.

READ | US Weighs Dropping 'Mother Of All Bombs' On Iran: Report

The bulk of the expense was tied to the operational costs of carrying out the war. This includes over $29 billion spent on replacing expended munitions, more than $6 billion needed to replace military equipment and so-called "platform losses," and $11.9 billion in incremental costs like support for American service members.

Earlier in July, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth shared the cost of war at $37.5 billion.

US' Threat Continues

A US envoy on Friday threatened to strike Iran over the weekend.

"Could there be a strike this weekend? Absolutely," Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey and point man on Syria, who does not have a direct role on Iran, told podcast host Mario Nawfal.

President Donald Trump "is very clear. He's open and available and accessible to a deal and we've been at the table for months and months and months," Barrack said in an interview during a visit to the Gulf.

This was soon followed by US President Donald Trump threatening to launch another round of strikes against Iran, calling it a "little Epic Fury" if Tehran fails to reach an agreement.

"We may do another little Epic Fury, or they'll agree. If they're smart, they'll just say, let's get down to business," he said during a Republican campaign rally in Florida.

'Operation Epic Fury' was a joint military campaign launched by the US and Israel against Iran on February 28, marking the beginning of a long war.

Trump, however, has said he won't attack Iran before the midterms.

READ | Netanyahu Pushed For Attack On Iran Ahead Of Israeli Election: Report

Can Fresh Strikes Deter Iran's Nuclear Weapon Plan?

One of the main reasons behind the US launching an all-out attack against Iran was to deny Tehran the ability to develop nuclear weapons.

Trump had claimed that the American military had caused 'total obliteration' at three Iranian nuclear sites, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan, in June 2025, setting the country's atomic programme back by "decades". Iran has not made any efforts to rebuild nuclear facilities damaged in US and Israeli strikes over the past two years, the UN nuclear watchdog has said.

"Since June 2025, we have not identified any activity to repair or reconstruct any of the facilities damaged in the military attacks of 2025 and 2026," International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

If the US has destroyed Iran's nuclear facilities, why does it need to launch a fresh attack? Trump wants to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon, something that most experts say the Islamic Republic was years away from.

"I don't think anything is going to permanently set back their program," Seth Jones, a defense and security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said of Iran's nuclear work, but strikes would allow Trump to "start to walk away and say that you had again set back Iran's nuclear program this time."