The USA bomb targets in the Strait of Hormuz before the midterm elections

WashingtonThe United States launched "defensive strikes" against Iranian positions in the Strait of Hormuz this Monday, according to military sources reported to the Associated Press. The episode comes just on the eve of the midterm elections, where Donald Trump is expected to lose control of Congress, following weeks of leaks regarding the possibility that Washington would resume its offensive in the Middle East. Despite the escalation, U.S. Vice President JD Vance says that indirect negotiations with Tehran are "progressing," while the regime urges the United States to lift the naval blockade to reach a peace agreement.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has said that two oil tankers have suffered damage after colliding with mines that Iran has sown in the strait. The price of oil has soared almost a point on the stock markets after the attacks, with Brent crude at 105.75 dollars at seven in the morning.

The United States Central Command (Centcom) has not yet confirmed the wave of attacks, but Iranian state television has already reported several explosions on Qeshem Island. The U.S. forces say it is a defensive action and that the target was "Iranians using surface-to-air missiles against U.S. targets".

An Iranian army spokesman has stated that any new American military adventure would trigger an attack "harder and broader than in the past." He also warned that, if a new war breaks out, "the geographical scope of the conflict will not be limited to the region." And he alerted that Tehran has thwarted a supposed plan by the United States to open a land front on the country's western borders by arming opposition groups to the regime established in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

The attacks this night seem limited, rather than a new escalation in the conflict, but they come just after Trump said that the U.S. would not attack Iran again before the midterm elections. The war has become one of the great sources of unpopularity for the American leader, who has not been able to convince his voters of this war, which breaks one of the great promises with which he returned to the presidency.

Furthermore, the conflict has led to an increase in fuel prices due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The rise in the price of a barrel of Brent crude has not only impacted Americans when filling up their cars, but has also been passed on to the cost of the shopping basket.