Benjamin Netanyahu walked into Likud headquarters at 3:23 a.m. Wednesday short of a majority on every exit poll and turned his speech to Iran. "Iran is weaker than ever, Israel is stronger than ever," he told the room. Israel and Donald Trump, he said, will end the Iranian threat once and for all.
The Pentagon is sending a Patriot battery from Texas to the Middle East, pulling troops off bases within reach of Iranian fire, and has told several Gulf governments to be ready for "a short yet intensive military offensive" after the Nov. 3 midterms, Wall Street Journal reporters wrote Tuesday night. The White House would not discuss "sensitive military plans that may or may not exist." Trump posted on Oct. 8 that he would not attack Iran before the midterms. The promise ran to the midterms and no further.