American aircraft struck Iran's Qeshm Island late on 2 November. Officials called the raid defensive, and an unnamed official told the Wall Street Journal it was limited, Al Jazeera reported. The next day voters gave Democrats the House, and NBC News projected that they will take the Senate too. Neither result settles what the White House does next, which is whether to resume the war with Iran in earnest. We think that decision belongs to Congress. Mr Trump should ask for it before ordering a new campaign, not defend it afterwards.
The pause the raid disturbed was thin already. Qatari mediators are working on a framework under which Iran would stop attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and the United States would lift its blockade of Iranian ports, according to an AP report carried by Boston's WHDH. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, called America's reply "not convincing". Brent crude, meanwhile, fell 7.4% on Monday to $105.03 a barrel on hopes of a deal.
Against that, the same AP report, again via WHDH, says Benjamin Netanyahu is pressing Mr Trump for a quick but extensive air campaign once the midterms are over. Its sources are two regional officials and a third person, all anonymous; Israel's government had not commented when CBS wrote its account. Marco Rubio said only that Mr Trump "hasn't made a decision". We cannot test the claim. We can say that the decision, whichever way it goes, is now being shaped by an ally's timetable and an American election calendar.