by Dave DeCamp | October 13, 2026
President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have discussed the possibility of resuming large-scale attacks against Iran before the US and Israeli elections, according to a report from Axios.
The report, which cited unnamed US and Israeli sources, said that the two leaders had held multiple calls over the past two weeks about the possibility of resuming “major combat operations” against the Islamic Republic, including the possibility of joint US and Israeli strikes on military and nuclear targets.
Restarting major attacks on Iran would likely hurt Republicans in the November 3 midterm elections, as it would worsen the energy crisis and raise gas prices in the US, while Netanyahu and his coalition may benefit in the October 27 Knesset elections.
“Bibi’s got an election before the midterms. He believes his strength is being a wartime prime minister,” one US official told Axios reporter Barak Ravid, who is a former IDF intelligence officer.
The report also said that in meetings with his security officials, Netanyahu has claimed that it was Trump who brought up the possibility of striking Iran before the elections. Multiple US media outlets recently reported that the US president was considering launching a bombing campaign before the midterms, but he has said publicly that he won’t.
Ravid reported that in the conversations, Netanyahu has made his usual claims about concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program. One source said US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and US Central Command leadership were the strongest supporters of restarting strikes, while other officials prefer ramping up economic pressure.
The US is still enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports, and Iran has dramatically ramped up attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz after Trump had repeatedly claimed the US was in control of the strait since more oil was coming out, but the oil shipments are on the decline.
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Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.
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