Netanyahu is pressing Trump to attack Iran after the midterms, officials tell AP

Is­raeli Prime Min­is­ter Ben­jamin Ne­tanyahu is push­ing for an­oth­er wave of strikes on Iran af­ter Tues­day’s midterm elec­tions in the Unit­ed States, ac­cord­ing to two re­gion­al of­fi­cials and a third per­son fa­mil­iar with the mat­ter.

A re­turn to full-scale war with Iran could help Ne­tanyahu to form an emer­gency gov­ern­ment af­ter he and his far-right al­lies lost their par­lia­men­tary ma­jor­i­ty in last week’s elec­tions. U.S. Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump has al­ter­nat­ed be­tween threat­en­ing ma­jor strikes while push­ing for a deal with Iran.

The two of­fi­cials said diplo­mat­ic ef­forts have made progress, with Qatari me­di­a­tors hold­ing two rounds of talks last week with Iran­ian of­fi­cials. The two of­fi­cials said the me­di­a­tors are try­ing to ad­vance a frame­work for Iran to cease its at­tacks in the Strait of Hor­muz in re­turn for the U.S. lift­ing its block­ade on Iran’s ports.