Trump says US 'at some point' will need to give Iran 'the hammer'
What happened
President Donald Trump said the US will "at some point" have to hit Iran hard, holding off for now in the hope of saving lives, at a rally in Iowa on Sunday.
The remarks came two days before the 3 November midterm elections, with Trump facing voter anger over rising gas prices and living costs.
Axios reported that Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone on Saturday, with Netanyahu pushing for strikes on Iran right after the midterms.
Trump, by contrast, wants talks to run their course, according to Axios; an Israeli official called the call "tough", while a US official called it "direct".
Trump told reporters on Saturday that negotiations were "going fine" and that one or two targets remained to be dealt with.
Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei said he had received a letter from Vice President J.D. Vance aimed at restarting stalled talks, and Qatari mediators visited Tehran on Friday, state media reported.
“But at some point we're going to have to give them the hammer”
Middle East Eye
Summary written by AI from 3 independent sources (The Hindu, Middle East Eye, DW) and checked automatically against them for copied text and numbers that are not in the sources. How we work
Open on the live globe →Who reported it
- 2026-11-01 20:35 UTCThe Hindu · thehindu.com ↗
- 2026-11-02 00:37 UTCMiddle East Eye · middleeasteye.net ↗
- 2026-11-02 03:18 UTCArab News · arabnews.com ↗
- 2026-11-02 04:17 UTCKhaama Press · khaama.com ↗
- 2026-11-02 08:42 UTCTimes of Israel · timesofisrael.com ↗
- 2026-11-02 15:41 UTCDW · dw.com ↗
- 2026-11-02 21:13 UTCLe Monde · lemonde.fr ↗
- 2026-11-02 22:16 UTCSCMP via AP · scmp.com ↗
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