With shifting Iran rhetoric following US elections, Trump leaves Mideast
in limbo about path ahead
[November 14, 2026]
By AAMER MADHANI, MATTHEW LEE and BEN FINLEY
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has had a lot to say about his
thinking on the way ahead in the Iran war since Republicans were
trounced in last week's midterm elections.
In exchanges with reporters, broadcast interviews and social media posts
since Election Day, he's somehow managed to back away from carrying out
additional strikes while also backing away from the prospect of
additional talks with the Islamic Republic's negotiators on ending the
8-month-old conflict.
The president acknowledged on the day after the midterms that the war
and the global economic tumult it's caused were partly to blame for
Republicans' electoral losses, while maintaining it was the right thing
to do.
Then, at the start of this week, he huddled with Qatar's prime minister
at the White House and afterward told reporters that he believed it was
highly unlikely he'd need to order new major strikes on Iran, declaring
that the war “militarily is effectively over.”
But by Thursday, he was again raising questions about whether he needed
to rush to find an endgame. He declared that the U.S. no longer needs a
deal with Tehran and brusquely directed Vice President JD Vance — who
served as his chief negotiator in earlier peace talks with Iran — to
shift his attention to the administration's domestic anti-fraud
campaign.
All the while, Trump warned Iran that the U.S. military is “locked and
loaded” and keeping an eye on Pickaxe Mountain, a facility linked to
Iran’s nuclear program, for signs of activity.
“If something does not work out, I would not hesitate" to act, Trump
told conservative broadcaster Hugh Hewitt on Thursday.
Iran war will shadow Trump during his trip to Asia
Trump's tonal shifts have only added to the uncertainty about what comes
next in a war in which America's allies were not consulted before it was
started but nonetheless struggle to deal with its economic
ramifications.
“President Trump is now acting like an arsonist who has set ablaze our
foreign policy,” Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said in an
interview Friday on the sidelines of the Democrats’ postelection
gathering in Denver. “And now he just wants to walk away.”
The president's ambiguous positioning on the war is expected to loom
large during a visit next week to the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation meetings in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen.
While in Shenzhen, Trump will hold an unprecedented three-way summit
with China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin. Trump is expected
to discuss Iran and the three powers' nuclear stockpiles with Xi and
Putin.
The White House declined to comment directly to queries on Trump's
postelection rhetoric on Iran. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio
underscored that Trump's approach is leading to the Iranian economy
collapsing.
“The economic pain that we are inflicting on that regime is so great
that there’s no need for military action because we’ve weakened them so
much,” Rubio said in a Friday evening speech to the Federalist Society.
Mideast diplomats try to make sense of Trump's position
Chief mediator Qatar continues to try to negotiate an interim agreement
that would restore traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital
passageway for the flow of oil and natural gas from the Persian Gulf to
global markets, while leaving open options for further discussions
between the U.S. and Iran.
But those efforts are now clouded by uncertainty following Trump’s
shifting — and sometimes contradictory — comments, according to two
Middle East diplomats familiar with the process.
The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the
sensitivity of the matter, said the situation had appeared to be on the
right track earlier this week after Qatar’s prime minister met with
Trump.
But Trump's social media post Thursday declaring that the U.S. doesn't
need a deal with Iran and directing Vance “to focus his complete and
total attention” on his anti-fraud campaign has created a sense of
limbo.
One of the diplomats said the post raised questions about why Trump
appeared to be sidelining Vance, who was skeptical about launching the
war but ultimately supported Trump.
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President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance attend a ceremony
at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on National Veterans Day
Observance at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.,
Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Trump's post came as Vance had been weighing a possible reengagement
with senior Iranian negotiators, according to a person familiar with
the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on
the condition of anonymity.
The president posted his message calling on Vance to steer away from
Iran negotiations the morning after The Wall Street Journal reported
Vance was thinking about resuming talks. Trump — who had been aware
of Vance's deliberations — believed the Iranians weren't acting in
good faith, the person added.
Trump is also increasingly confident that he can credibly declare
that he's achieved his military objectives in the war.
But traversing the Strait of Hormuz remains treacherous. The United
Nations reports October had the highest number of incidents against
commercial ships in the contested waters since February.
Still, Trump believes with oil shipments through the strait reaching
near-prewar levels, he could potentially leave it to Gulf countries
to negotiate a deal with the Iranians on governing the critical
waterway, the person said.
The other regional diplomat described the push for peace as falling
into a holding pattern as people await clarification from the White
House on Trump’s intentions.
That diplomat added it was not entirely clear to mediators or the
Iranians if Trump’s comments meant he was abandoning a negotiated
agreement or was just posturing after the congressional midterm
elections that cost his Republican Party control of Congress.
Rubio insists US hasn't given up on mediation efforts
Iran remains unwilling to engage in negotiations over its nuclear
program until the U.S. agrees to several core conditions that Iran
has been demanding be part of any ceasefire agreement.
Differences with Iran over its nuclear activities remain the
thorniest issue and one that Trump insists must be resolved as part
of any deal meant to end the war.
Tehran's rhetoric has hardly cooled. Iran’s deputy U.N. ambassador
Gholamhossein Darzi told the United Nations Security Council on
Friday that Iran “has never closed the door to diplomacy.” But he
warned that should the U.S. or Israel return to bombing, his country
would offer “an immediate and decisive response.”
Rubio earlier this week stressed that the U.S. is not opposed to
mediators continuing their efforts.
“If there’s a deal to be done, the president will be the first one
to be in favor of it," Rubio said. "But it’s not going to be a
stupid deal. It’s not going to be a bad deal.”
Michael Singh, managing director at the Washington Institute for
Near East Policy, said he expects the status quo to persist for some
time, with the U.S. and Iran locked in a stalemate over the Strait
of Hormuz and the U.S. continuing its monthslong naval blockade
that's curbing the flow of Iranian crude to the global market.
Singh said the American strategy of squeezing Iran economically is a
far more attractive option for Trump than military escalation or
making concessions to Tehran.
He also suggested Trump could always reverse his position on Vance
engaging with Iranians if the president finds the Iranians are ready
to seriously negotiate.
“It’s probably the most sensible path as well to sort of be patient,
keep the pressure on, allow the mediators to keep doing their work,”
said Singh, who worked on Middle East issues in former President
George W. Bush's White House. “And when the time is right, but not
before then, is when you want to engage senior officials like the
vice president and so forth.”
___
Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Edith M.
Lederer at the United Nations contributed reporting.
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