Washington Warns Gulf Capitals of Short Military Campaign Against Iran
President Donald Trump wants to end the ongoing conflict quickly, stating his intention to wrap up hostilities shortly, as reported by Sky TG24. Behind the scenes, the United States administration has warned several Gulf nations to prepare for a brief and intense military campaign targeting Iran following the November 3 midterm elections, according to details revealed by The Wall Street Journal. Despite reservations regarding the war in Iran and the market turmoil triggered by the blockade of maritime oil and gas traffic at the Strait of Hormuz, the US president has chosen to press forward, and the United States has warned Gulf countries of an impending military campaign against Iran following the midterms, as revealed by The Wall Street Journal.
White House Coordinates With Netanyahu on Post-Midterm Offensives
Following a tightly contested Israeli electoral cycle, Benjamin Netanyahu claimed a decisive mandate to confront Tehran. Israelis are familiar with this script, having voted five times between 2019 and 2022 with Netanyahu almost always at the helm, frequently serving as interim prime minister. Netanyahu echoed the aligned strategy by declaring that Israel and the United States share a historic opportunity to eliminate Iran’s existential threat once and for all.
Material preparations on the ground mirror this diplomatic alignment. The Pentagon has dispatched an additional Patriot missile battery from Texas toward Israel, while repositioning regional troops away from exposed bases, according to Corriere della Sera. The Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also removed the chief of military planners at the Pentagon as part of ongoing leadership adjustments, Sky TG24 reported.
Military costs continue to mount as hardware flows into the theater. Estimates transmitted to the United States Congress in mid-October place the price tag of the conflict at 47,1 miliardi di dollari, with 60 percent of that total consumed by precision munitions such as Tomahawk and Patriot missiles, Corriere della Sera noted. Meanwhile, Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies argues that sanctions and the naval blockade have already wiped out Iranian oil exports, making them winning cards.
Tehran Prepares for Renewed Hostilities as European Energy Profits Surge
Iranian officials maintain that the country has remained in a state of active war since the initial joint United States and Israeli strikes on February 28, ANSA reported. At a rally, Trump himself evoked another “little Epic Fury” recalling the spring bombardments, unless Tehran yields. The Iranian Foreign Ministry warned that any new military adventure in the Persian Gulf will impose heavy costs on global energy markets, and the government in Tehran reiterates that it has been in a state of war since the February 28 US and Israeli attack. Meanwhile, Hezbollah leadership in Beirut regards the political stasis in Israel as a sign of weakness and continues preparations for potential escalations, while regional proxies in Yemen and Iraq weigh the risks of wider regional fallout, according to ANSA. In the context of the Israeli military occupation of southern Lebanon, Israel Katz warned that Hezbollah will lose more territory in the Nabatiyeh and Litani areas, which are destined to become a “permanent security zone.”
The protracted conflict has simultaneously generated massive financial windfalls for energy corporations operating within the European Union. An analysis commissioned by Greenpeace Germany indicates that EU oil companies accumulated 36 miliardi di euro in extra-profits—averaging 154 milioni di euro per day—since the outbreak of the conflict, driven by sharp spikes in retail diesel and gasoline prices, RaiNews reported. Between March 1 and October 19, net-of-tax diesel prices increased by an average of 22.7 cents per liter in the EU, while gasoline prices rose by 13.3 cents. Italy ranks third behind Germany and France with 5,06 miliardi di euro in excess gains, largely driven by a 24,8 cent per liter increase in diesel prices between March 1 and October 19, prompting environmental groups to call for windfall taxes on fossil fuel operators.
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