Trump said on Friday, October 23, 2026, that the US may launch another round of strikes on Iran if Tehran does not make a deal, according to The Hindu. He said "we may do another little Epic Fury" but gave no indication of timing. Analysts quoted in the reports see signs that US strikes on Iran could resume.
Epic Fury is the name of the US operation against Iran that was launched in late February, according to the Straits Times.
Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institution said she is "banking now on the likelihood of strikes shortly after the midterms," referring to the November 3 elections, according to The Hindu.
Jason Campbell, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, cited the planned deployment of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which could bring the carrier strike groups in the region to three, along with another Marine Expeditionary Unit, according to the Straits Times.
Campbell also said Israeli warplanes recently carried out a "show of force" that mimicked previous strikes on Iran, according to The Hindu. He said US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.
Foreign ministers at a summit in Istanbul of eight European and Middle Eastern countries urged the US and Israel not to renew attacks on Iran, according to the Guardian World. Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said: "Military intervention in Iran is not any kind of solution."
Washington and Tehran have settled into strikes on commercial ships. The US is enforcing a blockade of Iran’s ports, and Iran is trying to control the Strait of Hormuz, according to the reports.
Neither country has engaged in major attacks on land-based targets since early September, according to the Straits Times and The Hindu.
The US-Israeli war against Iran is reportedly largely unpopular in the US, mainly because it has sharply driven up fuel prices. The Guardian World reports that prices are at their highest since May.
The reports do not include a response from Trump administration officials beyond Trump’s remark, or from Israeli officials. Iran has not responded either, according to the sources. The Hindu and the Straits Times carry the same AFP-based report, so the analysis of strike preparations rests on that one wire story and the named analysts. The Guardian World article gives no publication date, and no oil or fuel price figures are given beyond its claim about the highest level since May.
Campbell said the timing of any strikes is impossible to predict. Maloney expects strikes after the November 3 midterms. Trump has given no timing, and the ministers in Istanbul called for diplomacy.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.