Views are flowing in the United States, with some suggesting that the president, defeated in the midterm elections, may seek revenge on Iran over the result, in an attempt to soften the defeat and project an image of a warrior who fears no one.
اضافة اعلان
In a telephone interview with Fox News, President Donald Trump acknowledged his party's defeat in the midterm elections, admitting that the war with Iran had contributed to the Republicans' crushing loss, after the Democrats wrested control of the Senate and secured the House, a heavy blow to his agenda. He said Americans may not have been prepared for the short-term consequences of rising petrol prices, adding that the mission in Iran was not yet complete, "and we may or may not take that step."
At the same time, reports citing Axios said some US officials had warned that Trump's sense of embarrassment or loss of influence after the defeat could push him towards military escalation and a large-scale operation against Iran.
Reports carried by MS NOW also pointed to warnings from Washington to its allies in the region to prepare for the possibility of new strikes from after 4 November 2026. The Israeli newspaper Maariv said the results could set a date for resuming the war in the region once the elections in Israel and the United States are over.
Notably, despite the poor results for the Republicans in the US elections and for Likud and its supporting coalition in Israel, both sides have declined in Washington and Tel Aviv. This suggests, on the other hand, the cost of the war, which has rebounded on Americans and on Israeli society, albeit to varying degrees. This has weakened the Republicans, Likud and their allies, but it has not yet removed them from control in either capital. Both are now weaker, and both are still in power.
Perhaps the governing force that manages the region's files away from public view does not care about the election results, and may even hasten to settle outstanding files such as the Iranian one. Not out of a desire for revenge or retaliation, but for two reasons. First, Trump and Netanyahu's powers to wage war remain in effect. Second, finishing the elections would return them to their agendas from before the war, in terms of timing. Neither would be emotionally or politically affected by the results. Instead, both would face a headline objective: to finish the mission against Iran.
The common factor between the two sides is timing, before they reach a harder period: the start of the new US Congress in January 2027, and before the formation of a new government led by Netanyahu becomes complicated. They may have a relatively comfortable short window for launching a new war against Iran in the coming days and weeks.
The Democrats who backed Israel in its war against the Gaza Strip under Biden have not suddenly become angels. But it must be noted that it was under the Republicans that the war expanded and turned into a regional and international war that left a sharp impact on American society and on countries around the world. Likud's results and those of its allies in Israel are also linked to a range of factors, including the fact that currents within Israeli society have come to see the continuation of the war as a cost they cannot bear.
All of this is said to those who think the results of the elections in the United States and Israel may reshuffle the cards and bring an end to the war. It is more likely that both Trump and Netanyahu need the war badly, for many reasons: to rebuild their image, to reshuffle files on both sides, and to tighten their control through the banner of war, the outcome of which is not guaranteed in the first place.
