U.S. Envoy Says a Strike on Iran Could Come 'This Weekend' as Intelligence Chief Warns of Plots Against Americans and Brent Tops $117

A senior U.S. diplomat said Friday that the United States could strike Iran as soon as this weekend, even though President Donald Trump had said earlier that there would be no strikes before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, according to CNA and CBS News.

"Could there be a strike this weekend? Absolutely," said Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and point man on Syria, who does not have a direct role on Iran policy. CNA reported that he made the remarks to podcast host Mario Nawfal while visiting the Gulf; CBS News reported that he was responding to a question from Israeli army radio. "He's open and available and accessible to a deal, and we've been at the table for months and months and months," Barrack said of Trump.

Barrack also said the United States was not seeking to topple Iran's government, a position that CNA noted contradicts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections Tuesday and has repeatedly vowed in recent days to bring down the Islamic Republic. "If you keep threatening the world, our allies, the Gulf, there will be a consequence. The consequence won't be regime change," Barrack said. "The problem with regime change always is, what's the day-two scenario?"

In a separate interview with the Financial Times published Friday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said the war could still be going 12 months from now, according to CBS News. Trump initially said the war would last "four to five weeks." Waltz said the United States will not have achieved its key goals until Iran disposes of its highly enriched uranium and accepts "a meaningful agreement on their domestic enrichment." "I'm not going to put out hypotheticals. One would hope that they'll come to the table in a meaningful way before that," he said, adding that the U.S. Navy "can maintain this blockade for the foreseeable future."

Asked about Waltz's comments as he left the White House for a rally trip to Florida, Trump said, "We could end it very quickly. But Iran is a failing nation. We're taking all the oil out that we want," CBS News reported. "The question is, 'Do we want to finish it off or do we just want to let it wither?' Because we're getting everything we wanted." He also said, "We could, if we wanted to, just take all of the oil. We could take the whole country."

Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned in an unclassified memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, obtained by CBS News, that Iran has "substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel" abroad. "The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries," Clayton wrote. The memo does not identify specific targets or countries or say whether attacks may be imminent, according to CBS News. CIA Director John Ratcliffe was copied on it.

The State Department said it will reduce staffing at the U.S. embassies in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates over concerns that Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militants may escalate rocket, missile and drone attacks, CBS News reported. The change does not include an order to leave, and the embassies will remain open. Earlier in the week, nonessential diplomats and family members were ordered to leave Saudi Arabia, and U.S. officials told CBS News the military had been quietly reducing its footprint at Middle East posts.

Oil markets reacted to the tension. The price of Brent crude briefly crossed $117 a barrel Friday, its highest level of the war, after Iran's Revolutionary Guard claimed to have disabled seven tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, CBS News reported. Iran said it struck four ships using a U.S.-encouraged southern route and that three others hit sea mines; none of the claims had been corroborated, and Trump accused Iran of inventing the attacks to drive up prices before the midterms. Brent had been under $97 at the start of October.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 550 points, or just over 1%, by late morning Friday, and the S&P 500 was on track for a second straight weekly loss, according to CBS News.

Foreign ministers from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt met in Istanbul on Friday and urged restraint and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, CBS News reported. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said a new escalation between Iran and the United States "would leave no winners and would likely have very serious consequences for hydrocarbon prices."

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will travel to Moscow next week for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, according to a Reuters report cited by CBS News. A senior Iranian official told Drop Site News that Tehran's latest intelligence assessment indicates a high likelihood of a large-scale U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign before Israel's Tuesday election, Democracy Now! reported.