Trump says Iran conflict will end after US midterm elections amid escalating attacks

Trump says US could strike Pickaxe Mountain after construction activity seen at deeply buried complex

Donald Trump has said he believes the war with Iran will end “immediately” after the US midterm elections, as fighting continued to escalate this week with the biggest wave of attacks on shipping so far.

Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the US sank five Iranian oil tankers. At least one seafarer was reported killed and another was missing.

Trump accused Iran of trying to influence the midterm election and said Tehran wanted to secure a “nice, weak group of people” who would leave it alone to develop nuclear weapons.

He also warned Iran that the US could strike Pickaxe Mountain, saying: “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.”

Iran has also threatened to escalate its response to further attacks, with the Revolutionary Guard saying it would soon release maps of an expanded off-limits maritime zone extending towards Chabahar, near Pakistan.

The attacks sent the price of oil surging, with benchmark Brent crude futures breaching $100 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since July.

Iran and US hit tankers in biggest wave of attacks on shipping

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.

Shweta Sharma10 September 2026 05:00

Trump: 'I think the war will end immediately after the election'

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."

Shweta Sharma10 September 2026 04:30

Multiple US military aircraft suffered damage in overnight strikes on Jordan air base, CBS says

​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.

Shweta Sharma10 September 2026 04:04

Trump says activity seen at Iran's Pickaxe Mountain: 'Not to get cute'

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.

Shweta Sharma10 September 2026 03:53

UN nuclear watchdog reports Iran to UN Security Council

UN nuclear watchdog board reports Iran to the UN Security Council for the first time in 20 years

The U.N. atomic watchdog’s board reported Iran to the U.N. Security Council for the first time in 20 years for failure to cooperate in a long-running investigation into uranium traces detected by inspectors at various undeclared sites in Iran

Jane Dalton10 September 2026 03:00

IRGC threaten escalation of reprisals

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.

Jane Dalton10 September 2026 02:00

Iran and US hit tankers in war's biggest wave of attacks on shipping

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.

Jane Dalton10 September 2026 01:00

War will end straight after mid-terms, Trump claims

Donald Trump has predicted the war with Iran will end immediately after the US mid-term elections in November.

⁠Tehran was trying to influence the vote but would not be able to hold out more in the face of US economic pressure, he claimed.

Jane Dalton9 September 2026 23:59

Five charts that lay bare economic disaster caused by Trump’s war in Iran

Five charts that lay bare economic disaster caused by Trump’s war in Iran

The conflict in Iran has sent the price of oil and gas soaring while inflation rises in Europe and GDP struggles to remain resilient in the UK

Bryony Gooch9 September 2026 23:00

Watch: Iran military video claims to show missiles and drones launched at US vessels

Bryony Gooch9 September 2026 22:00