News

US, Israel plan major assault on Iran ‘post-midterms’

October 23, 2026

Reported by: The Cradle

The US and Israel have drafted plans for an assault on Iran’s nuclear, energy, and defense infrastructure post-midterm elections in a new bid to force Tehran to negotiate on less favorable terms, the New York Times (NYT) reported on 21 October.

Some US planners contend that a concentrated and intense three-day bombardment would be sufficient to force Tehran into yielding at the negotiating table.

Washington continues to brandish the threat of renewed war as a bargaining chip, seeking to extract concessions on Tehran’s nuclear program and its grip on Hormuz.

Tehran has refused to make any nuclear concessions thus far, insisting the issue be deferred to a later stage of negotiations.

This comes after US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth traveled to Israel this week to confer with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the planned strikes, as US and Israeli warplanes intensify military drills over Iraq to rehearse their attack maneuvers.

The US has fired more interceptors defending Israel than Israel has since October 2023

According to @stephensemler, the US fired an estimated 609 interceptors to defend Israel against responses to its attacks.

The US used the most expensive interceptors in its arsenal for… pic.twitter.com/QtXG261bbX

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) October 22, 2026

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly shelved or abandoned plans to attack Iran ahead of the midterm elections, as his approval rating plunges to record lows, public support for the war erodes, and the fallout from earlier attacks weighs heavily on the US economy.

Tehran is bracing for a war that may stretch on for months, tightening its hold on the Strait of Hormuz, and striking vessels that ignore its designated shipping routes.

Should the fighting resume, Tehran warns, its retaliation will reach beyond merchant vessels and the region’s energy facilities to data centers and the internet cables running along the seabed.

Mahdi Mohammadi, a senior advisor to Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, dismissed as a “fantasy” the notion that Washington could conclude a fresh wave of strikes within 72 hours, recalling Trump’s February forecast of a two-week war.

“Our attacks will be more fierce, creative, and different,” Mohammadi said.

Washington has dispatched the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, the USS Makin Island amphibious group, and some 9,000 additional troops to West Asia, US officials revealed on 1 October, reinforcing roughly 50,000 US troops already stationed across the region.

The buildup could see three carriers operating there simultaneously before the end of October, a concentration of force seen only once before since 2003.

Hegseth declared US forces “ready to go” should Trump order renewed attacks.

The Pentagon is weighing the use of the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), dubbed the “Mother of All Bombs” and Washington’s most powerful conventional weapon, against Iran’s nuclear and energy sites according to a recent CNN report.

US officials doubt the bomb can reach far enough underground to hit Iran’s buried nuclear sites, let alone force Tehran’s surrender.

Instead, they value it for the mass destruction, civilian deaths, and lasting trauma it would inflict on Iranians, a symbolic act of terror that would let Trump withdraw from a failed war while claiming victory.