Iran US War to resume in full scale in Middle East? American strikes in Strait of Hormuz on Midterm election results day raise fears

United States of America carried out strikes on Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz hours before midterm U.S. elections results. Iranian state media reported explosions being heard on the islands of Qeshm and Hengam in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, and in the nearby mainland area of Bandar Abbas. Several reports claimed that the strikes targeted Iranians using surface-to-air missiles against the U.S. in the strait.

Now the question is what will happen from here. The Middle East and beyond have been on edge about the prospects of the U.S. resuming full-scale operations against Iran for the first time in almost two months. Talks aimed at avoiding that are ongoing, and other American allies in the region are pressuring the U.S. not to resume the more than 8-month-old war that’s rattled the global economy and wreaked havoc on Iran.

Iran Response to US Strikes


The head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said on Tuesday that the U.S. response to Tehran’s demands to end the war was not convincing. Major General Mohsen Rezaei wrote on social media that the strait won’t reopen until the U.S. addresses Iran’s conditions.

Some people in Tehran were hopeful that the midterm elections would bring a shift in U.S. policies. Earlier, Iran had offered to reopen the strait, and resume talks on its nuclear program if the U.S. lifts its naval blockade on Iranian ports, waives sanctions on Iranian oil sales, and observes a ceasefire including in Lebanon.

Iranian state television quoted the country’s chief negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, as saying on Tuesday that Iran had “delivered a firm and rational response to the American side. The ball is now in America’s court to prevent war.” It was not immediately clear what response he was referring to.

Qalibaf also warned that Iran’s armed forces remained at the highest level of defensive readiness. If Washington makes another strategic miscalculation, it should know that this time it will face a new battlefield and will find itself even more desperate than it is today, he said.

The Trump administration was last known to have carried out attacks in early September. But thousands of U.S. troops remain in the waters off Iran to maintain a naval blockade aimed at preventing tankers carrying Iranian oil from reaching the global market. Another aircraft carrier and thousands of additional troops are also on their way to the Middle East.