America just reopened the door to bombing Iran before the election

Donald Trump just left the door open to bombing Iran again.

And two weeks ago, he promised the exact opposite.

Here's what he said, a few hours ago, to reporters at the White House, right before he flew off to a campaign rally in Iowa.

Donald Trump says quote "we may do it a little bit further".

He said America had already knocked Iran back hard. He said this should have happened under earlier presidents. And he said one thing plainly. America cannot let Iran get a nuclear weapon.

So why does this matter so much?

Because two weeks ago, Trump said the opposite, word for word.

On 7 October, he ruled out any strike on Iran before the midterm elections on 3 November.

Today, he didn't repeat that line. Not once.

So is a strike coming before the election, or after it?

Nobody knows. Not even Trump has said. Last month he told reporters the war would end right after the vote, because Iran "can't hold out any longer".

But here's the thing. While Trump talks, the planning is already happening behind him.

The New York Times reports that the US and Israel are drawing up plans for major strikes once the midterms are over. The targets reported are Iran's energy sites, its nuclear facilities, and its missile and drone stockpile. Trump has not signed off on any of it yet.

Pete Hegseth, the US Defense Secretary, reportedly flew to Israel this week and met Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, to talk about renewed strikes.

Two days ago, Trump also said America is not negotiating with Iran at all, and that something would happen "fairly soon".

Now, some background. This war has been running for eight months. The US and Israel launched it on 28 February this year. A ceasefire plan was agreed in June. It collapsed within months, partly over who controls shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The last confirmed US strikes on Iran were six weeks ago, on 8 September. Iran has kept hitting shipping in the Gulf since then.