Donald Trump sent 9,000 US troops to the Middle East after warning that new strikes against Iran could be on the horizon. Trump told reporters, “Oh they’ll be hit, very hard, don’t worry.” He also said the war will end one way or another as tensions continue to rise across the region.
The US president said the war will end ‘one way or another’
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Donald Trump has sent 9,000 US troops to the Middle East after warning that new strikes against Iran could be on the horizon.
The US president has refused to dispel reports that further bombing could take place before the US midterms in November.
He also said early indications suggest that Iran was most likely linked to the Israeli plane hijacking attempt on Wednesday.
President Trump warned that the US would retaliate if the link is established to Iran, telling reporters: “Oh they’ll be hit, very hard, don’t worry.”
On Thursday, he declared that Iran must sign a peace deal or it “won’t exist any longer” after Tehran announced it had received a US response to its proposal to end the war.
The president had publicly rejected Iran’s peace offer just days earlier. On Wednesday, however, Iranian officials suggested the two sides largely differed over the timeline for its implementation.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi presented the US response to president Masoud Pezeshkian at a cabinet meeting, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told the state news agency IRNA.
Yemen carries out 20 airstrikes on Houthi targets in Taiz province
Yemen's armed forces spokesperson said on Friday that air force warplanes carried out 20 precision strikes over the past three hours targeting Houthi movements, reinforcements, gatherings, personnel, vehicles and military equipment in Taiz province.
The strikes hit hostile targets directly and inflicted losses on Houthi militia personnel, equipment and military movements, the spokesperson said in a post on X.
Saudi Arabia launches airstrikes on Sanaa and other parts of Yemen, say Houthis
The Houthis have reported Saudi strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa and other parts of Yemen.
A spokesperson for Yemen's armed forces, which are aligned with the internationally recognised government, said coalition forces had attacked what it described as "high-value targets" in the capital Sanaa.
The recent escalation is the most serious fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthis since a UN-brokered truce largely halted cross-border attacks in 2022.
Hostilities resumed this year after the Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in July and began attacking Saudi territory and shipping, while Houthi forces also made major territorial gains along Yemen's Red Sea coast. Saudi Arabia has responded with air strikes in Yemen and backed government forces fighting to repel the Houthis.
The coalition also said it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis toward the southern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait.
Local officials said early on Friday that the Houthis had also targeted the headquarters of the Saudi-led coalition forces command in Aden with several ballistic missiles and drones.
Saudi-led coalition says Houthis attacked power station for Prophet's Mosque in Medina
The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis said on Thursday that the Iran-aligned group had attacked a power distribution station in Medina which supplies electricity to the Prophet's Mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites.
The coalition said the attack put one transformer out of service but did not affect the power network.
The Saudi-led coalition said an investigation and examination of drone wreckage confirmed Houthi involvement in planning and carrying out Tuesday's attack on the Medina power station.
A Houthi military source, quoted by the Houthi-run Saba news agency, denied the coalition report, calling it a "lie" intended to cover up Saudi Arabia's failure to substantiate its earlier accusation that the Houthis targeted the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
Saudi Arabia said two weeks ago it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of Mecca before it entered restricted airspace over the city. The coalition described the incident as the second Houthi attempt to target Mecca since 2017, while the Houthis denied targeting Mecca or any other Islamic holy site. The coalition said the Medina attack was part of what it described as repeated Houthi attempts to target the Two Holy Mosques and "provoke" Muslims worldwide. It said it would continue taking measures to protect the holy sites and pilgrims.
FBI arrests Energy Department employee on charge of trying to support Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen
A Department of Energy electrical engineer has been arrested on charges of providing support to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, including by buying materials for homemade explosives and drones and traveling to Yemen, the Justice Department said on Thursday.
Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, 51, of Richland, Washington, was arrested on Thursday and is due to make his first court appearance today.
The FBI says Ellaboudy had a goal of helping the Houthis improve their communications capabilities and traveled last September to Yemen, where the Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces are now engaged in renewed violence that has killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands. The conflict began in 2014 when the Iran-backed rebels took over the capital, Sanaa, forcing the country’s government to settle into exile in Saudi Arabia.
Upon his return to the United States, authorities say, Ellaboudy told Customs and Border Protection officials that he was traveling back from Oman on a work trip and was part of a US government mission to inspect missile defence systems. But investigators interviewed Ellaboudy's supervisor, who reported having no knowledge of any international travel or of an Energy Department missile inspection programme that Ellaboudy would have been assigned to, an FBI affidavit said.
Ellaboudy himself was recorded telling FBI informants, whom officials had introduced into the investigation, that he had to be smuggled into and out of Yemen and that he had hoped to reach the country's capital to make government-level connections, the affidavit says. He was ultimately unable to make it to Sanaa, the FBI said.
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Harriette Boucher2 October 2026 03:00
Watch: Trump Warns Decision On Whether To "Blow Up" Iran Is Near
Harriette Boucher2 October 2026 02:00
Trump admits Iran war could cost Republicans the midterms
Donald Trump has admitted that the Iran war could cost Republicans the midterms, echoing similar statements from his daughter-in-law and political figure Lara Trump.
Asked if the seven month old war could impact his party at the November elections, the US president told reporters: “Well, it’s possible.”
He added: “It should help because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
“So when you say, ‘Is it OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon?’ I would say 100 per cent of the people say no, including worldwide.”
Earlier this week, Lara Trump told The Sun’s Harry Cole: “Well, it could cost him the midterms. I think Donald Trump’s legacy is yet to be written.”
Another poll conducted for CNN by SSRS found that Republican approval of the war fell from 73 per cent in March to 60 per cent in the latest survey.
Harriette Boucher2 October 2026 01:00
Israel warned UK over ‘Iranian attack’ ahead of RAF Fairford incident, Netanyahu claims
Israel warned UK over ‘Iranian attack’ before RAF Fairford incident, Netanyahu claims
The Israeli prime minister told US broadcaster Fox News the situation was ‘wild’ and ‘absurd’
Harriette Boucher2 October 2026 00:00
Trump claims Iran most likely behind Israeli plane hijacking attempt
Donald Trump has said Iran is most likely responsible for the Israeli plane hijacking attempt and vowed to “hit them very hard” if they were.
He told reporters: “We're working on it right now, they're [UAE] being very open with us, I would say the answer based on what I'm hearing is yes, but we're working on it right now.”
Asked what would happen if Iran was found responsible, he said: “They'll be hit very hard, don't worry.”
Benjamin Netanyahu previously told CNN that it was too early to tell whether Iran was involved, but later said the alleged attacker “underwent Islamist radical indoctrination.”
Harriette Boucher1 October 2026 23:00
US 'needs to get idea of bringing us to our knees out of its head', says Iran
President Masoud Pezeshkian has said Iran will continue to defend itself but remains open to discussions with America.
According to state media, he said that the US needed to “get the idea of bringing us to our knees with terror and martyrdom out of its head.”
Pezeshkian added: “We defend the rights of our society with dignity and pride, and we have never run away from dialogue and will not do so, although the United States has targeted our country three times despite having signed the agreement.
“The enemies thought that with the martyrdom of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, the people, commanders, and scientists - the country - would collapse, but our national and internal unity and cohesion increased.”