TRUMP / IRAN / MIDTERMS
"I gave absolutely no credence and will not give credence through the election when it comes to Iran. The only thing that does is that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon."
"I don't want to say that. I don't want to say that. I mean, it's possible, but I just don't want to say that." — — to Fox News, September 27, asked whether strikes could resume before the midterms
Every outlet led with the rejection and the map. Iran offered, through Qatar, to reopen Hormuz and restart nuclear talks in seven days if the port blockade lifted. Saturday he said "I reject their proposal... we're winning tremendously," and posted a picture of the strait relabeled Trump Strait. The forward-looking paragraph in most coverage came from the Wall Street Journal's anonymous officials, who said he had told staff to expect bombing after November. That sourcing is the part that will get argued about, and it is the weakest thing in the story, because the president answered the question himself on camera the next day and said it three times: he does not want to say, and it is possible. Four days earlier he had told the General Assembly the election would get no credence at all. In May, entry #27, it was "I don't care about the midterms." Now the midterms are a timeframe he declines to rule out. And the May pattern repeated exactly: he told Axios he expected talks this week; Iran's own state agency said Monday there were none scheduled. Same two parties, same collision, same four months later.