America just threatened Iran with another strike before the midterms

Donald Trump just threatened Iran with another strike.

He said it at a campaign rally in Fort Myers, Florida, about a day ago. The midterm elections are eleven days away.

Donald Trump says quote "We may do another little Epic Fury, or they'll agree".

So what is Epic Fury? That's the name of the US military operation that started the war with Iran about eight months ago.

Trump also brought up an earlier operation, Operation Midnight Hammer. He says that one destroyed Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity, and Epic Fury then finished the job.

He didn't say what a new strike would actually involve.

And this isn't the first time this week he's said something like this.

Two days ago, at an earlier event, Donald Trump said quote "We've knocked the hell out of them".

Here's the thing. Only days before that, the White House had said America would not attack Iran before the midterms.

So something has changed.

Tom Barrack, the US Ambassador to Turkey, said a strike could happen this weekend. Asked directly, he said "Absolutely".

Trump's response? He said he didn't know anything about that.

Barrack also said the goal in Iran is not regime change.

But that's not where Israel stands. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, has separately told Israel's military and intelligence agencies to pursue the overthrow of Iran's government.

So while Trump talks up another strike in public, something else has been happening quietly.

The State Department has been pulling people out.

It has reduced embassy staff in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Qatar and Jordan. Earlier this week it ordered family members and non-essential staff out of the US Embassy in Riyadh and the consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran, in Saudi Arabia.

Why? A US official said it was because of the threat of Houthi attacks and Iranian terror plots.

And there's a memo behind that. An intelligence memo obtained by Axios, dated 23 October 2026 and sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, says Iran has substantially increased its efforts to target American diplomats and officials. Some of those plots, it says, have reached advanced stages.