USA/Iran | The fear of the election

The US government has massed numerous warships in the Persian Gulf region. Here, an F-35C Lightning II fighter aircraft prepares to take off on an aircraft carrier. Photo: AFP/Navcent Public Affairs/US Navy While many in Europe are hoping that the midterms could limit Donald Trump's power and thus make him more lenient, fear of exactly this election outcome is growing in the Middle East.

A defeat by Trump's Republicans could be the starting signal for a new attack on Iran, TV commentators and experts discuss on Arabic TV channels.

Plans for another American-Israeli strike are apparently almost complete. A possibly oppositional Congress would not be able to meet until January and vote against a war on Iran. Although Trump has so far made decisions without taking parliamentarians into account, the moment still seems favorable for the destruction of the remaining nuclear program. At least from the perspective of Benjamin Netanyahu, who, according to insiders, calls the White House almost every day and repeatedly publicly calls for the continuation of the war against the regime in Tehran.

More than 20 U.S. Navy warships have been massed in the region in recent weeks, including the aircraft carriers USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS George H.W. Bush. The landing units of the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island include another aircraft carrier.

After an attack on Iranian energy infrastructure and Israeli bombings of the regime's power centers, 9,000 marines could attack the island of Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz and the island of Kharg, which is important for oil exports. Already in the spring, Revolutionary Guard bunkers at both strategic hubs were destroyed by long-range missiles. The pipelines and loading infrastructure for oil tankers, however, remained untouched.

A total failure of Iranian oil exports would not only cause prices at pumps around the world to skyrocket even further. The Iranian leadership has already announced that it will close the Strait of Hormuz and expand the targets of its own long-range missiles in the event of another attack.

An unlimited war involving the Gulf states, Iran, Yemen and countries further afield would be a horror scenario for Asian economies. On the African continent there are fears of an even greater shortage of fertilizers, which are currently being imported on a large scale through the Strait of Hormuz.

"A new Iran war would catapult Iranian-Arab relations back to the 1980s."

"A new Iran war would catapult Iranian-Arab relations back to the 1980s: a political ice age and economic regression like during the Iranian-Iraqi war," a journalist from Tehran who is critical of the government tells "nd" on the phone.

»Netanyahu has again openly called for the overthrow of the Iranian leadership, Trump speculated in his election campaign about the use of new weapons on the enriched uranium in the “Pickaxe” mountains. Tehran has prepared for this fight for survival with Chinese and Russian technology and will cause serious problems for the royal families in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates by shutting down desalination plants and refineries.

A new round of regional war has already begun. Iranian eyewitnesses and US officials reported five large explosions on the island of Qeshm on social media on Tuesday evening. Just hours before the start of the congressional elections, Trump made it clear to his voters that the ongoing negotiations with Iran over Qatar are not a sign of weakness.

The White House and the Iranian leadership are officially silent about the missiles on radar systems and missile sites of the Revolutionary Guards. Allegedly, American targets had previously been targeted on Qeshm, the largest island in the Persian Gulf. On Monday, the Revolutionary Guards fired on the cargo ship MSV Al-Jusufi in the Strait of Hormuz. An Indian crew member died in the fourth shelling of merchant ships in the strait in seven days.

The head of Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil and gas giant from Saudi Arabia, has given up hope for an improvement in US-Iranian relations. CEO Amin Nasser announced the construction of new pipelines that will increase the export capacity of Red Sea ports. In Riyadh last week, many of the "nd" interlocutors expressed anger and disappointment over Trump's war tactics. Cultural and sporting events and trade fairs have been canceled for the foreseeable future.

In front of his home campaign audience, the US President countered criticism of the increased diesel prices and the destabilization of an entire region with succinct comments. It is a “soft war,” said Trump in the state of Iowa. "Iran's economy is collapsing because of us."

But because more and more Republican voters are waiting for a strategy against the rising cost of living and not for a war against Iran, other Republicans such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio are also weighing in on the election campaign: "Nothing has been decided," said Rubio on Sunday, "Trump prefers a diplomatic solution."

But the Iranian delegation that traveled to Doha appears to be reluctant to compromise. Tehran is apparently playing for time, hoping to weaken Trump through a new Congress in January. In Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Jordan, many are already stocking up on food supplies. They fear Trump will choose war rather than weakness.

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