Reported plan and the caveat

Plans for fresh US-Israeli strikes on Iran are being drawn up for a window after the US midterm elections, according to sources cited by The New York Times. The paper added a strong caveat: Donald Trump has repeatedly cancelled plans to return to major combat, so the timing is far from settled.

Officials' rationale for one more attack

Administration officials cited by the Times argue that one more major attack could be what pushes the Iranian economy to collapse and force diplomatic concessions from Tehran.

Military signals: exercises and Hegseth-Netanyahu meeting

Officials described a set of military signals pointing at the possible new strikes on Iran:

• •Joint training exercises between the US and Israel have been stepped up, officials told the Times.
• •A meeting was held this week between Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to officials cited by the paper.

Trump: 'not negotiating'

Trump himself addressed the question on Wednesday evening. Haaretz quoted him saying that the US is "not negotiating" with Iran, and that "something one way or the other will happen fairly soon". On timing, he added: "most people seem to think it's after the election".

The picture, then, remains open: the reported plan targets a period after the midterms, but Trump has walked back comparable plans before - while his own words suggest action could come sooner.