US warns Middle East allies to prepare for possible renewed strikes on Iran after midterms

The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive warnings, stressed that President Donald Trump has not made a final decision on whether to carry out new strikes. Trump has repeatedly said he is weighing ordering new military action once the Nov. 3 elections are over, and those threats and fresh US urgings have put the region on alert that a return to major operations could be on the horizon. The White House and US officials declined to comment.

The war with Iran began in late February and is now in its eighth month. It has proved a heavy weight on Republican candidates as they make their case to voters fatigued by rising gasoline prices, a byproduct of the war that has driven up costs across nearly every sector in the global economy. The cost of fighting the war to American taxpayers has grown to $47.1 billion, according to the latest estimate the Pentagon has provided to Congress.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday in a post on X that Tehran "continues to give diplomacy a chance to succeed" and is working with mediators to review ideas Tehran included in a proposal floated last month, summarily rejected by Trump, that Iranians still want to see used as the basis for a return to a ceasefire. The United Arab Emirates foreign ministry issued a statement urging the sides to "exercise wisdom and pursue political solutions to help contain tensions" and prevent a return to full-scale operations.

The US has told regional allies that a new round of military action could last several days, but regional officials are bracing for Iran and its proxy groups to retaliate in a fight that could last even longer, the diplomats said. Allies have been urged to take precautionary measures in anticipation that Iran's response will include strikes on energy facilities and other crucial infrastructure.

The US has not carried out a strike against Iran since early September. The conflict has spread, with Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacking Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure and airports, and a Saudi-led coalition responding with attacks on Houthi-held territory in Yemen. The Pentagon last month deployed the USS Theodore Roosevelt, along with amphibious landing ships carrying Marines, roughly 9,000 troops in all, from San Diego to the Persian Gulf. One US official said the deployment could lead to an unusually high naval presence of more than 20,000 sailors and Marines, as well as hundreds of aircraft, a force level reached only a handful of times in the last two decades.

Campaigning for Republicans, Trump has assured voters the war's end is near while threatening that a new round of bombing could come once the election passes. At a campaign stop in Lubbock, Texas, on Tuesday, he said a conclusive end to the conflict could come "in a couple of weeks, if you don't mind." Earlier in the same address he said: "Somebody asked me before, when will the war in Iran end? I said, 'Whenever I want it to end.' It'll be very quick, but we have to have it end properly, with total and complete -- a total statement, they will never have a nuclear weapon."

The region is on edge that Tehran could do something provocative before the elections, especially if it feels US action is imminent, said Jonathan Schanzer, executive director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank. "Why would they wait until after the elections here ... if they could initiate it and potentially gain the upper hand?" he said.