Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Türkiye, openly raised the prospect of a strike on Iran this weekend, unsettling the administration’s earlier no-action-before-the-midterms timetable. Iran warned of ‘bitter consequences’ while European and Middle Eastern foreign ministers urged restraint.
Taiwan’s Central News Agency and the Liberty Times, compiling wire reports from Jerusalem early on the 24th, said Tom Barrack, US ambassador to Türkiye and special envoy for Syria, answered ‘absolutely’ on the 23rd when asked whether the US could strike Iran this weekend. The reports framed the remark as part of a run of hardline signals from Washington and Israel that has pushed regional tension up again.
광고 문의 · 300×250Barrack added that President Trump’s position is very clear and that he remains open and available for a deal. According to Arab News, citing AFP, Barrack said the US had been at the table for months, but warned that threats to the world, to US allies or to the Gulf would bring ‘a consequence’. That consequence, he stressed, would not be regime change.
The weight of an envoy’s words and a shifting timetable
CNA noted that Barrack has no direct role on Iran policy. Accounts of the venue also differ: CNA and CBS News said he spoke to Israeli army radio, while Arab News, citing AFP, said the comment came on a podcast hosted by Mario Nawfal. Whether the White House has confirmed or disowned the remark could not be verified.
The comment drew attention because Trump had earlier indicated there would be no strikes before the November 3 midterm elections. According to CNA, Trump said on the 22nd, before leaving the White House for a rally in Iowa, that the US military had already hit Iran hard and ‘we may take further action’. He repeated that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon and said he knew the strikes carried a cost when he made the decision.
In the same report, CNA cited The New York Times as saying the US and Israel had drawn up concrete plans to strike Iran again after the midterms, with possible targets including infrastructure, nuclear sites and missile and drone arsenals. Some US officials reportedly believe a major new wave could break Iran’s economy and force concessions, but whether Trump has given final approval is unconfirmed.
Israel nears an election as Washington talks of a long war
Israel votes on the 27th. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed in recent days to topple Iran’s clerical state. AFP pointed out that Barrack’s insistence that the goal is not regime change runs counter to Netanyahu’s line. The two allies are aligned on pressure but differ on the end goal.
CBS News reported that US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told the Financial Times the war could last another year. He said he hoped Iran would come to the table in a meaningful way before then and that the US Navy could sustain its blockade of Iranian ports for the foreseeable future. According to CNA, the US-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28 this year and is nearing its eighth month.
Iran’s defiance and the market and diplomatic fallout
Iran did not back down. Hong Kong’s on.cc reported that parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned on the 22nd that if the US chooses war it will face ‘bitter consequences’, from a stock market crash and downed fighter jets to rising debt, worse inflation and casualties among its troops. CBS said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the US-Israeli relationship ‘parasitic’, and that President Masoud Pezeshkian will travel to Moscow next week to meet Vladimir Putin.
Markets reacted at once. According to CBS, Brent crude rose 3.5% on the 23rd and briefly topped 117 dollars a barrel after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed to have disabled seven tankers. On Wall Street the Dow fell about 550 points, or roughly 1%, and the S&P 500 lost 0.2%. The Guard’s claim and the flags of the vessels involved have not been independently verified.
Seen from a third vantage point, the weight falls on diplomacy rather than military pressure. CBS said foreign ministers from eight European and Middle Eastern countries met in Istanbul on the 23rd, where French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said further escalation ‘would leave no winners’. Chinese outlet china.com, citing New Yellow River, gave prominence to Iranian warnings, reporting that Tehran is ready for both full-scale and asymmetric war. Washington and Israel see pressure as speeding up talks; Europe and Iran’s partners see it as inviting escalation.