Strike fears persist despite lull as Iranians brace for renewed attacks after Israeli, US elections

Elections and renewed fears

Israelis have voted on whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will remain in power. US midterm elections are scheduled for November 3 and are likely to affect President Donald Trump’s final years in office.

Although US and Israeli attacks have fallen sharply since the June memorandum of understanding with Tehran, the threat of war has returned. Many political commentators think the two countries could resume the war after the elections, and Iranians are preparing for that possibility.

War aims and public response

An unnamed speaker said Israeli officials’ rhetoric suggested their ambition remained the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, which has governed Iran since the 1979 revolution. The speaker told Al Jazeera that comments from the US and Israel, as well as strikes on oil and gas, power and steel infrastructure, had changed some people’s views.

Threats and economic pressure

Trump has threatened the “death of a civilisation” in Iran and suggested the country’s map could change after the war. He has also threatened to extend a naval blockade of Iran’s southern ports, imposed in July, which has halted oil exports and significantly disrupted trade.

Israeli political consensus

Opposition figures including Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid and Yair Golan have supported US-Israeli attacks during the current conflict and last year’s 12-day war. Israeli politicians from the government and opposition generally share the aim of overthrowing Iran’s leadership, but disagree over how to achieve it.

Eisenkot has backed Netanyahu’s strikes and praised Trump’s decision to attack as courageous. He has also argued that military action cannot realistically topple the Islamic Republic and that change must come from Iranians themselves.

Residents watch the skies

Some Iranians say they have formed groups with friends in different parts of the country to alert one another to imminent strikes if they hear fighter jets overhead. A user named Ali wrote on X that “90 million people have our eyes to the sky” waiting to see when war will come.