US forces mass in Middle East as Trump vows Iran war will end after midterms

United States (US) President Trump said Thursday night that Iran “is ready to fold up,” adding he believes the US will win the war “right after the election,” though he also said “maybe before the US midterms in early November.
Trump told TIME magazine that US military action against Iran could resume after the midterm elections if Tehran and Washington fail to reach a satisfactory agreement, and that he doesn’t think “you could ever have peace” with Iran.
The US president said that he believes the US will win the seven-month war “right after the election,” if not before the US midterms in early November.
Meanwhile, the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and the USS Makin Island Amphibious Group are heading for the Middle East, a US official tells CBS News. When they arrive, the US could have three aircraft carrier groups, with around 20,000 forces, in the region.

Trump vows to hit Iran ‘very hard’
Trump also warned that Iran will be “hit very hard” if it is found to be linked to a pilot’s attack on a flydubai flight to Israel.
Trump’s warning came as the United Arab Emirates opened an investigation into whether the incident was linked to terrorism and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the suspect had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination”.
“I would say the answer, based on what I’m hearing, is yes but we’re working on it right now,” Trump told reporters Thursday when asked at the White House whether Iran was involved in what happened on the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. In the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) says several tankers were attacked in the Strait in recent days, including three that are owned or chartered by the UAE.

Saudi coalition blames Houthis for Medina strike
On the Yemen side, its Iran-backed Houthis struck an electricity distribution station in the holy city of Medina in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi-led coalition said Thursday, sparking strong condemnation from the Muslim world.
But, the Houthis denied involvement.
Medina, the burial place of the Prophet Mohammed and home to the Prophet’s Mosque, is one of Islam’s holiest cities alongside Mecca.
Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki said a drone struck the Taibah electricity distribution station at 5:11 am (0211 GMT) on 29 September.

Pakistan says Mecca pact to discuss Houthi talks
Pakistan’s foreign minister said Iran has suggested engaging Yemen’s Houthis politically after attacks by the group, an idea a committee of the Mecca defence pact will discuss at an emergency meeting in Riyadh next week.
The proposal comes as Saudi Arabia, which has accused the Houthis of targeting Islam’s two holiest cities, faces escalating attacks.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, the pact’s three members, will decide next steps at the meeting, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told a news conference. He said the date would be confirmed later.
Dar said Iran had distanced itself from the Houthis and Iraqi militias, and that President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi both want the matter concluded. He said he had also briefed Tehran on the defence pact and how Pakistan would honour it.
“There is no written, solid offer. It is brainstorming between two foreign ministers,” Dar said, describing the political approach as a suggestion made in good faith. It would be discussed as an alternative to “kinetic action”.

Taiz fighting kills 80 combatants
Yemen’s Houthis and Saudi-backed forces fought over an area located not far from a waterway that is crucial to global energy flows, killing 80 combatants over the past day, sources on both sides told AFP on Friday.
Fighting in Taiz has raged since the Iran-backed Houthis began a lightning offensive against the internationally-recognised, Saudi-backed government.
In their offensive, the Houthis also took control of the whole of the Red Sea coast, notably the area around the Bab al-Mandab strait, which is crucial not just for Saudi energy exports but for global shipping as a whole.
According to Houthi military sources, at least 55 anti-government fighters have been killed over the past 24 hours in fighting against government troops in the Taiz area.
Government sources meanwhile told AFP that 26 troops on their side had been killed.

UN warns Lebanon war threatens agriculture
The deputy director-general of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization told AFP on Thursday that she was “deeply concerned” about the impact of the latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict on agriculture in south Lebanon.
The latest war “puts additional pressure on farmers and rural communities that, frankly, were already facing considerable hardships”, said the FAO’s Beth Bechdol.
“We’re deeply concerned” about the situation in south Lebanon, where agriculture is “at the heart” of livelihoods, she said in an interview in Beirut.
“It is our best assessment that 56,000 hectares, which is more than 22 percent of Lebanon’s agricultural land, has been reported as affected or damaged,” including burned or physically damaged, she said.