The U.S.-Iran war moved into the final stretch of the midterm campaign this week with new warnings from Tehran and new pressure from Capitol Hill, according to Fox News live updates published Oct. 19. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X telling the U.S. to “try your luck again” and saying “we have unfinished jobs too,” and accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of pushing the U.S. toward war. Armed forces chief of staff Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi warned the U.S. and Israel against “further miscalculation,” saying further attacks would bring stronger retaliation. On Monday, Araghchi, at a news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, blamed the U.S. for tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and called for diplomacy.
President Trump told reporters Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “laying off Iran” and said “we're hitting Iran very hard,” adding that he does not want to disrupt Ukraine talks. After a call with Trump, Netanyahu said the two would “remove the Iranian threat forever.” Trump also endorsed Netanyahu ahead of Israel's Oct. 27 elections, warning that if Israel chose another leader the U.S. would have to handle Iran itself, according to the same report. CENTCOM spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said most Iranian attacks on Hormuz shipping have failed and that about 97% of ships transiting have avoided being hit.
On Capitol Hill, five Democratic senators led by Elizabeth Warren asked CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper to release cost estimates for damage to U.S. bases. The Pentagon's last public war cost estimate was $46.3 billion on Sept. 3, Fox reported. Other countries are also weighing in: China's Premier Li Qiang condemned the strikes as “blatant aggression” and called for a return to talks, Pakistan's army chief planned a trip to Tehran to discuss ending the conflict, and Qatar's deputy prime minister said a new regional defense partnership would be announced in the coming days.
At home, the war has become a campaign issue. Spectrum News reported on Oct. 15 that Democratic candidates are pressing Republicans on the war and prices, while some Republicans have split from the president's message: Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers said in an ad that the war must end quickly, Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas said he wants it over as much as anyone, and Rep. Ashley Hinson of Iowa called for a swift end to ease pump prices. Other Republicans, including Georgia Rep. Mike Collins and Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, defended the mission as preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon and called the price effects temporary.
Why it matters to Texas readers. Texas's energy and shipping industries along the Gulf Coast are closely tied to what happens in Hormuz, and many Texas families have loved ones in uniform. We note the differing accounts: Iran says it is being blamed unfairly, the Pentagon says its defenses are working, and critics want a public accounting of costs. Christian readers have long held that war must be just in its causes and conduct; whatever one's view of this conflict, citizens are entitled to ask for clear statements of aims, costs and exit strategy.
Open questions: we relied on a live blog whose timestamps are relative and could not independently verify the statements above; we have no confirmed total of the war's cost beyond the Pentagon's Sept. 3 estimate.