Trump says Iran war to end after US midterm vote

President Donald Trump said he expected the war with Iran to end after the November US midterm elections and threatened again to attack a site associated with the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme after the two sides launched their biggest wave of attacks on shipping since the start of the six-month-old war.

Tensions in the region were high, with Saudi civil defence authorities on Thursday issuing emergency alerts in the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait for the fourth time in 24 hours, as clashes flared with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.

The Houthis were edging closer on Thursday to gaining more leverage over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the southern outlet of the Red Sea and one of the world’s most important routes for shipping, four Yemeni government military sources said.

Brent crude prices hovered above $100 a barrel as supply routes through both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea remained heavily disrupted.

Iran said it had attacked 10 ships near the waterway on Wednesday after the U.S. sank five Iranian oil tankers, the latest in a series of tit-for-tat strikes that have signalled scant chance of an imminent end to hostilities.

Related video| No end in sight to the US-Iran conflict: DEADLINES TO END WAR The war and subsequent increase in fuel prices have helped drive Trump’s popularity to record lows.

The president said Tehran was trying to influence the November U.S. midterm elections, which will determine whether his Republican Party retains control of Congress.

“I think war is going to end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer.

They’re desperate to try and affect the election,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday.

Trump has previously set deadlines for the war to end.

The Wall Street Journal reported later that top White House advisers, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have privately warned Trump that the conflict could extend through the remainder of his presidency, which ends in January 2029.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Trump also said the US may hit Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, a heavily fortified site that hosts two deeply buried tunnel complexes near Iran’s damaged Natanz uranium enrichment facility.

“We notice there’s a little activity at Pickaxe.