Trump weighs quick end to Iran war or letting it 'wither'

Speaking to reporters at the White House before departing for Florida, Trump said oil is passing through the Strait of Hormuz and that "we are getting everything we want", praising the US Navy and repeating that the waterway is "totally ours and that's the way we'll keep it". Iranian outlets also quoted him as saying Washington could have taken all of Iran's oil and "the whole country" if it wanted, that the war could be finished "very soon, one way or another" with petrol and oil prices falling sharply, and that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. He separately claimed Iran was spreading "fake news" to push up oil prices before the US midterm elections. The claims were not independently verified. At a rally in Florida, he said the US might carry out one more small operation "of the epic wrath type", or Iran could agree. US ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, asked whether an attack on Iran this weekend was possible, said "definitely", adding that Trump was ready to reach an agreement and that the imminent nuclear threat had been removed.

BBC Persian reported that a new US intelligence note to the secretary of state said Iran had significantly increased efforts to target American diplomats and officials and that plans for deadly attacks against them in the Middle East and some other countries had reached "advanced stages". The report coincided with a reduction in US diplomatic staff in several Middle East countries. Khabar Online headlined the same claim by saying US embassies in the region had been evacuated, without giving further details. At a meeting in Istanbul, European and regional foreign ministers called for a return to diplomacy. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Germany, France and Britain are ready to negotiate with Iran to ensure it does not obtain a nuclear weapon. Khabar Online, citing Wadephul after the Istanbul meeting, reported that eight countries were cooperating to resolve the Iran-US dispute. Israel's Channel 13 reported that army chief Eyal Zamir told a private meeting there is currently no operational need to attack Iran before next week's Knesset elections. Brent crude reached $112 a barrel on Thursday, its highest in five months.

Al Jazeera reported that Democrats are making the war's cost an affordability issue in the US midterms, with average petrol above $4.27 a gallon and a survey finding 81 percent of potential voters say the conflict has raised the cost of living. CNN reported that some Republican supporters of Trump in Iowa are uneasy about the war restarting after the vote.