“One or Two Sites” Left, as Mediators Cut the Hormuz Window
Speaking to reporters at his Florida club on Saturday, the American president said of Iran: “We’ve knocked out their nuclear. We still have to take care of, I would say one or two sites, but we can do that in 10 minutes.” Meanwhile Qatari mediation entered a third day, and Tehran has cut its offered reopening of the Strait of Hormuz from seven days to two.
Two things run in parallel and neither carries a date. What he said he would “take care of” was sites, not cities — suspected underground nuclear facilities, one of which he named. His secretary of state said no decision has been taken while adding that “if we needed to do something militarily, we would have the ability to do it”. On talks, his own verdict was that they are “going fine but you know they’re not very reliable”. Against that, the diplomacy has produced something measurable: Iran’s foreign minister says the reopening window Tehran is offering has come down from seven days to two, though he adds that no final conclusion has been reached and that no direct talks with Washington are taking place, reports to the contrary being “merely media speculation”. Three outlets independently name the 3 November midterms as the hinge, which is the election date and not a strike date; the last confirmed American strikes were on 1 September. Iran’s supreme leader has demanded a response to any attack “without geographical restriction”.