Iran shrugs off Trump's attack threats, says diplomacy ongoing

The price of Brent crude oil hovered around $115 a barrel early Monday after surging at the end of last week over global supply concerns linked to the ongoing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, as the northern hemisphere heads into the gas-hungry winter.

President Trump has fueled speculation that he could order a resumption of U.S. strikes on Iran after next Tuesday's midterm elections.

The president told Fox News on Sunday: "I have a decision to make: Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal? That's all."

Additional U.S. forces, including a third aircraft carrier group, have been sent to the region, though U.S. diplomatic staffing levels have been reduced, and sources told CBS News last week that the overall American military footprint in the Middle East was also being quietly reduced.

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Iran's foreign ministry said Monday that the outcome of the Israeli elections in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a tight race will make "no difference".

"It makes no difference to us who, in these elections, takes the helm of a regime that has brought nothing but violence and massacres to our region," said ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei in a weekly press briefing, a day ahead of the Israeli legislative polls.

Netanyahu claimed Sunday that Israel had "intelligence signs that our enemies, Iran and its proxies, could challenge us with attacks in order to disrupt the elections."

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Senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan will hold talks on regional security with Iranian officials on Monday in Tehran, Iranian and Saudi authorities said.

The meeting will follow eight months of war in the Middle East and recent U.S. and Israeli threats of renewed attacks against Iran.

"As agreed, Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistani army chief General Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin will participate in this meeting," said Ali Bagheri Kani, the deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

In an interview with state television, Kani said the meeting will also include Iran's security chief, Mohsen Rezaei.

Saudi Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Dr. Rayed Krimly confirmed that the kingdom's defense minister was heading a delegation to Tehran on Monday.

"The visit comes as part of the continued efforts by the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement countries for de-escalation between parties involved in the ongoing crisis," Krimly said in a post on X.

It is aimed at "promoting dialogue and diplomatic solutions, in support of the mediation efforts carried out by the State of Qatar and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan," he added.

The Saudi-led military coalition fighting alongside the Yemeni government in the country's civil war said Monday it intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Houthis, after the Iran-backed group claimed a new attack on the international airport in Riyadh.

A Houthi spokesperson said the group launched attacks the airport on Sunday, just hours after it resumed flights. Deadly strikes by the rebel group earlier this month had forced the airport to shut down operations for more than two weeks .

Coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki said on Monday that air defenses "intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile" fired by the Houthis toward Riyadh and destroyed two ballistic missile launchers in Yemen's capital Sanaa.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said Monday the group "successfully targeted" the airport with a ballistic missile, and struck oil pumping stations with drones.

Saree previously warned that Riyadh airport was still "unsafe" and a "military target," as the airport prepared to resume international flights.

The airport closure was a major blow for Saudi Arabia, forcing the postponement of the kingdom's flagship investment conference until 2027 and disrupting travel plans for thousands of passengers.

Saudi Arabia and the government it backs in Yemen have come under sustained attack in recent weeks from the Houthis as a years-long truce broke down over the summer, shifting the focus of the wider U.S.-Iran war that erupted in February.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Iran and its allies might try to disrupt Tuesday's Israeli elections, warning the Islamic republic against any hostile acts.

"The IDF is prepared in both defense and offense," Netanyahu said in a video released by his office on Sunday, using the acronym for the Israeli army.

"We have intelligence signs that our enemies, Iran and its proxies, could challenge us with attacks in order to disrupt the elections," he added. "Don't test us. You will suffer disproportionate blows."

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President Trump said Sunday morning that he's deciding between reaching an agreement with Tehran and taking action to "finish them off," after suggesting Friday that Washington "may do another little Epic Fury," in reference to the U.S. and Israel's joint military campaign against Iran.

"Now, my question is, do I make a deal with them, or do I finish them off?" said Mr. Trump in an interview with Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures."

He also claimed that the U.S. now controls the Strait of Hormuz and criticized former President Barack Obama for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, which is better known as the Iran nuclear deal. Obama signed the agreement in 2015, but Mr. Trump pulled out of it during his first term in office. 

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that a potential resumption of war with Israel and the United States would not change his country's positions.

The remarks came amid mounting tensions between Tehran and Washington after President Trump said Friday that Washington "may do another little Epic Fury," referring to the U.S.-Israeli campaign on Iran that began on Feb. 28.

"Recently, there has been talk of a new war, but I am already thinking about the post-war period. Whether there is war or not, our policies remain the same," said Araghchi during a televised event in Tehran.

"They have already done so twice and have seen the results. If they want to try again, they know they will achieve no different outcome from those of the past."

Direct negotiations between the U.S. and Iran have appeared to stall for weeks, but Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said earlier Sunday that Tehran had not closed the window of diplomacy and messages were still being passed to the U.S. via intermediaries.

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