US strikes Iran's Qeshm Island on the eve of the midterms, just hours after Trump declared 'we won'
Donald Trump, pictured with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, whose notably different tones on Iran — Vance voicing optimism over a diplomatic deal — emerged as polls opened on the midterms.Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iranian state media reported overnight explosions confirming the US strikes, just hours before midterm polls opened.
US forces struck Iran's Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz late on Monday, hitting surface-to-air missile sites after Iran's Revolutionary Guard fired on an American aircraft — even as diplomats held a third consecutive day of talks in Doha. Officials deliberately kept the operation secret to avoid signalling a return to full hostilities. The war has now cost US taxpayers at least $47.1 billion in nine months.
Trump had told voters just hours earlier that the US was "in no rush" to escalate its campaign against Iran.
The White House has been conducting a series of undisclosed smaller strikes in recent weeks, US officials told the Wall Street Journal, to avoid signalling a resumption of major combat.
Netanyahu pressed Trump in a weekend call to launch sustained new strikes after the midterms, as rising costs from the Hormuz closure have cratered Republican polling numbers.
