Iran says it still passes messages to Washington as Trump rules out strike today

Iran says it is still passing messages to the United States through intermediaries and has not closed the window for diplomacy, even as fears grow across the Middle East that the war could return to full-scale conflict. The comments came as the United States and Israel prepare for elections in the coming days.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, made the remarks in an interview with a German broadcaster, according to state media. Negotiations over the war have appeared to stall for weeks. Baghaei said the United States still appears to insist on unilateral demands, and he criticized repeated use by Trump and U.S. officials of the phrase «complete surrender,» which he said no Iranian would accept. Concern among Iranians about a possible return to all-out war has been rising.

Asked whether he planned to attack Iran, President Donald Trump first said he would be foolish to telegraph such a move. He then said: «No. There will not be a strike today.» Separately, Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, said over 3,000 commercial vessels had transited the Strait of Hormuz with U.S. military support over the past six months. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing intelligence, repeated his warning that Iran or its proxies could attack ahead of Tuesday's close elections in order to disrupt the vote. «The IDF is ready both to defend and to strike,» he said in a video recorded during a visit to an anti-ballistic missile battery, adding that Iran would suffer disproportionate blows.

On the humanitarian front, the International Committee of the Red Cross has begun receiving lists again of Palestinian detainees from the West Bank and Gaza. The Israeli Supreme Court earlier this year ordered the government to resume sharing such lists and to allow the ICRC to visit detainees in Israeli prisons. The government had suspended both practices after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks and the start of the war in Gaza. ICRC spokesperson Gilad Grossman said Israel had not yet allowed prison visits to resume, but «we hope that we will resume in the near future.» Some detainees were released under last year's ceasefire, but around 9,000 remain imprisoned or detained under harsh conditions, according to the report.

Elsewhere in the region, King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh reopened terminals 1 and 2 for domestic and international flights, even as Iran-backed Houthis in neighboring Yemen again fired drones and missiles toward the Saudi capital. Saudi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile and a drone. Earlier in October, Houthi strikes hit an airport complex, killing 17 people and wounding more than 330. Separately, debris from intercepted missiles in Khamis Mushait and Ahad Rafida governorates wounded two people and damaged three buildings and seven vehicles, Saudi civil defense said.

In Gaza, Palestinian hospital officials said Israeli strikes killed seven people, including four in two strikes in Gaza City and two brothers in Khan Younis. The Israeli military did not immediately comment. The territory's Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, says more than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began a year ago, and that women and children make up nearly half of those killed. Pope Leo XIV, meanwhile, urged an end to fighting in Yemen and warned of worsening conditions for more than 1 million residents of Taiz besieged by Houthi rebels, saying the population lacks food, water and medical care.

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Delaney Sawyer

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Delaney Sawyer covers public affairs, politics, business, culture and daily news for Core Memo. The role focuses on verification, context, and clear explanations for readers.

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