Iran-US war latest: Trump says conflict won’t end until after November midterm elections

Oil prices held firm on Thursday after Brent crude breached $100 a barrel, with traders ​bracing for deeper supply disruptions as Iran and the United States ‌launched their largest attacks on shipping since their six-month-old conflict began.

Brent crude futures inched lower by 0.1 per cent to $101.10 a barrel by 0256 GMT.

US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $96.24 ​a barrel, up 0.2 per cent.

Brent prices have surged nearly 30 per cent from lows touched ​in early August as a permanent agreement between the US and ⁠Iran to cease attacks never materialised, while renewed fighting began later in the ​month.

Satellite imagery shows a sharp increase in construction activity this year at Iran’s deeply buried Pickaxe Mountain complex near Natanz, according to a new analysis by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The analysis, published on Wednesday, found that imagery from 2020 to 2026 showed the site had shifted from active excavation to probable internal construction and continued reinforcement of the complex’s exterior. Road activity this year was higher than at any other point since construction began.

The activity includes hardening tunnel entrances, paving internal roads, reinforcing access areas and removing excavation spoil, CSIS said.

However, the available imagery could neither confirm nor disprove Israeli intelligence claims that Iran had moved centrifuges into the complex.

CSIS said the absence of an increased security presence, as well as a lack of observed non-construction vehicles and equipment, suggested the underground facility was not yet capable of uranium enrichment, if that is its intended purpose.

Pickaxe Mountain, about 2km south of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, is a large underground tunnel complex built into granite. Its depth and fortifications would make it extremely difficult to destroy, even with the heaviest US conventional bunker-buster bombs, according to CSIS.

The think tank said open-source evidence was insufficient to determine exactly what was happening inside the facility. Possible uses include centrifuge assembly, uranium enrichment and other nuclear-related research and activities.

Saudi civil defence issued ⁠an emergency alert for the ⁠southwestern ⁠province ⁠of Khamis ​Mushait to ⁠warn ‌of potential danger, the fourth such alert in ⁠24 hours.

The agency posted on X ‌shortly after ​saying ‌the danger ⁠had ⁠passed.

Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the US sank five Iranian oil tankers, in the biggest wave of attacks on ⁠shipping by both sides since the start of the six-month-old war.

At least one seafarer aboard a tanker was reported killed and another listed as missing.

Iran said it had fired ballistic missiles at a US military base in Jordan.

Jordan said it intercepted 18 missiles, with the remaining two falling harmlessly in unpopulated areas. A US official said all American troops were accounted for.

Iran’s Revolutionary ⁠Guard Corps said it would sharply escalate its response to any further attacks, and said Iran would soon ​release ⁠maps of a new, enlarged off-limits zone at sea that would extend as far as Chabahar on the coast near Pakistan.

President Trump said Iran is desperate to end the war and wants to impact the result of the midterm election in the US.

“I think the war will end immediately after the election, because they can’t hold out any longer,” the president told reporters.

“They’re desperate to try and affect the election so we can get a nice, weak group of people in there and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapon.”

“All they want is a nuclear weapon and if they had a nuclear weapon the whole world is in deep trouble,” he said.

Trump said he is still not looking to negotiate with Tehran in the near future, before the midterms.

“We’re not looking for it, to be honest,” Trump said.

“Originally I wanted to make a deal. We’re so far down the line, they have very little country left right now, so we’re not looking for it. Yes, a negotiation could possibly happen but it’s not something we’re looking at.”

​Multiple American military aircraft suffered damage in ⁠strikes overnight on the Muwaffaq Salti ⁠Air Base ​in ⁠Jordan, CBS reporter ⁠Jennifer Jacobs ​said ⁠on Wednesday on ‌X.

One A-10 Thunderbolt, known ‌as the ‌Warthog, was struck and left ⁠with a missing wing, while roughly eight F-15s sustained light damage ‌and were ​placed ‌back into ⁠service, she ⁠added.

No deaths of US personnel have been reported in the strikes on Jordan.

The overnight damage came after the US attacked five Iranian tankers in retaliation for Iran targeting a US Navy warship.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded by launching attacks on eight tankers and two warships, including the base in Jordan.

US forces in Jordan launched more than 30 Patriot missiles defending against the Iranian strikes in Jordan, CBS News learned.

President ​Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States may hit Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, urging Tehran ⁠to be cautious.

“We notice there’s a little activity at Pickaxe. I would advise Iran not ⁠to get ​cute ⁠because we will have to hit them very hard,” ⁠Trump said in a ​speech ⁠at the midterm ‌Republican convention.

Pickaxe Mountain, located near Iran’s heavily damaged Natanz uranium enrichment ‌facility, is a ‌fortified site that hosts two deeply buried tunnel complexes.

Trump has been ⁠threatening strikes on Pickaxe Mountain since at least mid-July.

The rise in oil and gas prices due to the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began in ‌February, has become a ​major issue for Trump ‌and his Republican ⁠Party in the lead-up ⁠to the midterm US elections in November.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they would sharply ⁠escalate their response to any further attacks, and said Iran would soon release maps of a new, ​enlarged ⁠off-limits zone at sea that would extend as far as Chabahar on the coast near Pakistan.

Iran also said it fired on two US ships and eight tankers in response to the US action.

One seafarer was killed aboard the ⁠oil products tanker Hercules Star while at anchorage off Dubai, the vessel’s charterer, Peninsula, said.

The British maritime security agency UKMTO described a vessel in the vicinity that was listing after being struck by a projectile.

Iran says it has attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the US sank five Iranian oil tankers, in the biggest wave of attacks on shipping by both sides since the start of the six-month-old war.

At least one seafarer aboard a tanker was reported killed and another listed as missing.

The incidents follow a month of relative calm.

Iran said it had fired ballistic missiles at a US military base in Jordan. Jordan said it intercepted 18 missiles, with the remaining two falling harmlessly in unpopulated areas. A US official said all American troops were accounted for.