Iran and America just missed a deal over an election
41 minutes ago · 9 November 2026Share
Donald Trump speaking at Believers Summit, July 26, 2024, West Palm Beach.Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 2.0
Donald Trump says the US and Iran would have signed a deal to end their war.
The only reason they didn't, he says, is the midterm elections.
He said it on CBS News' 60 Minutes. The interview was taped three days ago at the White House. It aired last night.
Donald Trump says quote "we would've had a deal, except for this election".
And he went further. He said if the election hadn't happened, a deal might already exist. Or it would have landed within the next few days.
So that's the US president saying his own country's election is the reason this war is still going.
But his own Secretary of State tells a different story.
Marco Rubio spoke to reporters the same day. He was at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida, about to fly to a G7 foreign ministers' meeting in Paris.
Marco Rubio says a deal is not close. He also says Iran's negotiating demands are not realistic.
So on the same day, one man says a deal was days away. The other says there isn't one in sight.
And Iran's side doesn't back Donald Trump's version either.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Foreign Minister, says the real reason talks stalled was the US election result itself. He says the result came as a shock to everyone.
That's Iran's own foreign minister pointing at the election as the cause of a delay. Not a deal falling apart at the last minute.
No Iranian official has confirmed a deal was ever close.
So what's actually on the table? Still a long way from settled.
Iran wants the US naval blockade on its ports lifted. It wants sanctions removed, its frozen assets released, compensation for war damage, and an end to hostilities in Lebanon.
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South View Laleh International Hotel from Southern Tehran Skyline Over Laleh Park. File photo. A from Portland, Oregon, EE UU · CC BY 2.0
The US has not agreed to any of it.
And the fighting hasn't stopped either. The US military has bombed Iran's air defences at least twice in the past week. It disabled a commercial ship three days ago that it says tried to break through the naval blockade.
Now here's the twist. Donald Trump isn't just talking about Iran. He's using this same war to explain why his own party lost Congress.
Democrats took both the House of Representatives and the Senate six days ago.
Donald Trump says the war with Iran, rising petrol prices, and growing public dislike of Israel were the main reasons Republicans lost.
JD Vance, the Vice President, had already said much the same thing. He posted it on social media a few days earlier, largely blaming the Iran war for the defeat.
Donald Trump says he agrees with JD Vance's reasoning, apart from one point he did not name.
So the same war Donald Trump says nearly produced a deal is also the war he says cost his party Congress.
Asked if he'd now escalate the war with the midterms behind him, Donald Trump says quote "I'm not looking to".
He separately told CNN that renewed US strikes are highly unlikely if Iran signs what he called a strong agreement.
Qatar is still the main mediator between Washington and Tehran. Qatar's Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, is due at the White House today.
Qatar's foreign ministry has already pushed back on talk that the negotiations collapsed. Its spokesperson said a few days ago that claims the talks had failed only benefit those who want the war to go on longer.
So here's the basic question nobody has answered. Was there ever a real deal on the table? Or is the election simply an explanation for a war that's still unresolved?
Iran still holds 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% purity, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. That number hasn't moved.
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