Interview with Al-Monitor, October 29, 2026 -
Sasan Karimi, a former senior Iranian government official and a professor of Iranian studies at the University of Tehran, said Tehran is not interested in handing Trump a win before Tuesday’s election, where Republicans have faced voter frustrations over higher energy prices linked to the war.
“The Iranian suspicion is that maybe Donald Trump will withdraw or breach a deal that is only useful for his election,” said Karimi, who said a “wide distance” remains between the two sides’ negotiating positions.
The outreach comes as Trump weighs resuming major combat operations. Hard-line Iranian officials have publicly warned that US strikes on Iran’s infrastructure could trigger retaliatory attacks on AI facilities, data centers and undersea communications cables running through the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, US military bases and embassies across the region are on high alert for potential attacks by Iran or its Houthi allies in Yemen. In addition to the ordered departure of non-emergency personnel at the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia last week, American embassies in Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan are undergoing what a State Department official told Al-Monitor were “temporary changes” in their staffing levels.
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