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Monday, November 2, 2026
Trump weighing who to scapegoat for failure to end Iran war so far — report
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A new American military operation against Iran may come soon after tomorrow’s US midterm elections, The Atlantic reports, amid weeks of reports and public remarks threatening renewed strikes.
The report says, citing two unnamed non-administration sources close to US President Donald Trump, that Trump is mulling over who to scapegoat for the failure to end the Iran war, after his advisers mistakenly assured him ahead of its February start that it would be over long before the midterms.
These include Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, the report says.
Hegseth is unpopular in the White House, with sources quoted as alleging his assessments have been overly optimistic to keep Trump happy. “Hegseth is good at telling the president what he wants to hear,” one of the outside advisers tells The Atlantic.
He has fired the Pentagon’s top military planner, Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, with Caine’s office appearing out of the loop by first issuing a statement thanking him for his decades of service, only to hours later say the previous statement “did not appropriately reflect the full circumstances.”
The Times of Israel Community.