US President Donald Trump said it was “possible” he could step up bombing of Iran after the November 3 midterm elections, and said he had rejected Tehran’s latest peace offer because it was not good enough, according to a Time magazine interview published on Thursday. The interview also saw Trump comment on reports linked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the October 7 Hamas attack, while fighting in Yemen raised fresh fears of gains by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Elsewhere in the region, Iran summoned the British ambassador over allegations linking Tehran to a sabotage plot at RAF Fairford, Netanyahu spoke about the FlyDubai incident, a passenger said two British pilots landed the plane safely, and Saudi Arabia cancelled this year’s Soundstorm music festival.
In the Time interview, Trump said he would not now accept proposals from Iran that “he wouldn’t have approved a year ago”. He also left open the possibility of resuming bombing Iran after the November 3 election, but refused to give details, saying, “I can’t tell you that because look, you know, you’re asking, where are you going to bomb?”
Trump also addressed reports that Netanyahu had been warned in advance about Hamas’ October 7 attack. He said he had heard about those reports only on the same day that the September 28 interview took place, adding, “I can’t imagine this.” Trump said that if Netanyahu had been forewarned, “he would have done something about it” or “would have had people at least alert.” An Israeli newspaper had reported that the president of the United Arab Emirates directly warned Netanyahu that Hamas was planning a major offensive just days before the October 7, 2023, attack. Netanyahu strongly rejected the report.
In the same interview, Trump repeatedly avoided answering directly whether Netanyahu should be re-elected in elections later this month. He said he was “not involved in politics anymore” and highlighted his own record on Israel. But he also said Netanyahu should not be underestimated, even if “people have written off Bibi many, many times, just like they’ve written off me many, many times.” Of Netanyahu’s opponent, Gadi Eisenkot, Trump said, “I don’t hear bad things about him.”
In Yemen, overnight clashes between Houthi rebels and government forces in residential neighbourhoods in eastern Taiz raised fears that the Iran-backed rebels could be advancing towards Taiz City in the south-west. Taiz is about 100 kilometres from Mokha, which the Houthis seized last month. The latest fighting cut off a main road linking Taiz and Aden.
Al-Thawra Hospital, a few kilometres from the fighting, received six bodies and 35 wounded people on Thursday, hospital manager Abdelrahman al-Sabry told The Associated Press by phone. He said the number of dead and wounded was similar to the toll in early September, when fighting was intense before it de-escalated. Renewed violence in Yemen has killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands. Last month, the Houthis captured the strategic city of Mokha and a number of Red Sea islands, extending their reach to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It was their biggest land grab in years and ended a 2022 ceasefire that had largely stopped major fighting in Yemen’s 12-year civil war.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday summoned Britain’s ambassador in Tehran to “strongly protest” allegations by British Prime Minister Andy Burnham linking Iran to a sabotage plot at RAF Fairford, Iranian state television reported. The ministry called the allegations “baseless”, and said the British government should provide an official explanation and change its approach towards Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had also posted on X that the UK was “barking up the wrong tree”.
Netanyahu, speaking to Fox News on Thursday, said the suspect in the FlyDubai incident was an Omani national who got through a loophole in Israeli restrictions barring pilots from countries such as Oman, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. He said both countries were “interested in making sure this doesn’t happen again” and added that “it might be attempted again because we have indications that Iran and its proxies are trying to conduct attacks against Israel and Israelis right now in this election season.”
Yaniv Hayoun, a passenger on the FlyDubai flight, said after arriving in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night that the two British pilots who safely brought the aircraft in to land were sitting “one row in front of me, row six, and I was in row seven.”
In Saudi Arabia, the Soundstorm music festival has been cancelled for this year, with organisers saying it will return in 2027. No reason was given. The festival, which has previously featured Bruno Mars, Cardi B and DJ Khaled, is the latest major entertainment event in the kingdom to be cancelled this year. Organisers MDLBEAST had earlier announced the cancellation of the 1001 music festival in Riyadh, which had been scheduled for the end of the month, while the sixth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival was postponed last week from December to the fourth quarter of 2027.
Overall, Thursday’s developments from the Middle East ranged from Trump’s comments on Iran and Israel to renewed fighting in Yemen, Tehran’s protest to Britain, fresh details on the FlyDubai incident, and another high-profile cancellation in Saudi Arabia.
With PTI Inputs
– Ends
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