---
title: "Iran Says It Will Fire on US Warships as Trump Weighs Another Epic Fury"
description: "Eight months into the war, Tehran threatens the US Navy, Brent nears $117 and mediators meet in Istanbul without either side present"
author: "Jan Sokol"
published: 2026-10-24T13:06:03Z
modified: 2026-10-25T02:02:47Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/iran-says-it-will-fire-on-us-warships-as-trump-weighs-anothe-53264c
language: en
tags: ["iran", "trump", "war", "oil", "hormuz", "mideast", "world"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Iran Says It Will Fire on US Warships as Trump Weighs Another Epic Fury

*Eight months into the war, Tehran threatens the US Navy, Brent nears $117 and mediators meet in Istanbul without either side present*

By Jan Sokol · October 24, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/iran-says-it-will-fire-on-us-warships-as-trump-weighs-anothe-53264c

## In brief

- At a Fort Myers rally on Oct 23, Trump said the US may do ‘another little Epic Fury’ against Iran unless Tehran agrees to terms
- Iran’s armed forces chief Ali Abdollahi said Iran can hit any US vessel that comes near Iranian waters or the Persian Gulf
- The IRGC reported nine tankers attacked or mined in two days; Brent crude reached about $117, its highest since April
- Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia, Israeli strikes in Lebanon and a West Bank lockdown widened the conflict
- Eight foreign ministers met in Istanbul without the US or Iran; Tehran said Hormuz reopens only if its demands are met

On Friday, 23 October, at Alico Arena on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus in Fort Myers, the President of the United States spoke to an election crowd about a war that is about to turn eight months old. He offered Tehran a choice. “We may do another little Epic Fury, or they’ll agree,” Donald Trump said, [as France 24 reported](https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20261023-trump-says-us-may-launch-another-little-epic-fury-attack-iran). [Reporting from Tehran for Al Jazeera](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/24/iran-says-wont-allow-us-warships-to-get-close-as-trump-ponders-new-attacks), Maziar Motamedi quoted the line without the word “little”: the US military “may do another Epic Fury”.

Little or not, the name carries weight. Epic Fury was the joint Israeli-American bombing campaign that opened the war with a surprise attack on February 28. Early in the war, US officials said the operation had [sunk more than 30 Iranian ships](https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-sinks-over-30-iranian-ships-operation-epic-fury-more-top-headlines.print). Trump had already asked aloud whether to finish the conflict fast with huge strikes or let the naval blockade and sanctions keep squeezing. According to France 24, he has signalled he is open to resuming strikes after months of stalled diplomacy, though not before the congressional elections on November 3. In Fort Myers he said the United States had already beaten Iran “militarily, financially, and otherwise” and that oil prices “will soon plummet.”

## The answer from the general staff

Tehran answered on Saturday. Ali Abdollahi, chief of general staff of Iran’s armed forces, said the US Navy could not come back into Iranian waters or the seas around them, because Iran could hit any vessel in the region. Trump, he said, “can only dream of their soldiers and military again entering the Persian Gulf.”

His argument was aimed at Washington’s own victory claims. If Iran’s military had really been mostly destroyed, the general asked, why would the Americans not bring their carriers closer? Washington has spent the autumn [sending more carriers toward Iran](https://rews.cc/a/british-police-arrest-british-iranian-man-in-terrorism-inqui-596177). Abdollahi promised to “drown” the United States and Israel in a “quagmire” as punishment for February 28.

Every war produces two accounts of itself, the one told at rallies and the one told by the wreckage. This one now has a third, told by the price of oil.

## Mines in the strait

Iran is still attacking shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz. The Revolutionary Guards said seven tankers were attacked or struck mines overnight into Thursday, and that two supertankers hit mines on Friday. The Guards now describe their doctrine as more offensive. The attacks, along with the risk of a new round of bombing, have pushed Brent crude to about $117 a barrel, its highest since April. That was the day after the promise that prices would soon plummet. The hardline Tehran daily Vatan-e Emrooz called it “evidence of disgrace for Trump.”

Washington has reportedly ordered many of its diplomatic staff out of Saudi Arabia, and departures from other countries in the region are expected. The kingdom is a front of its own. Yemen’s Houthis struck Riyadh again on Saturday and had recently targeted Dammam’s international airport and the Shaybah oilfield. Saudi forces bombed Marib, Taiz and other provinces the Houthis hold.

In southern Lebanon, Israeli air strikes were reported around Nabatieh, with artillery fire near Zawtar ash-Sharqiyah. Iran has demanded that any ceasefire with the United States also cover Lebanon. In the occupied West Bank, Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a lockdown after a Palestinian attack in Hebron killed two soldiers. He faces an election on October 27, a week before the American vote.

## The dead hand

Netanyahu has again said he aims to bring down Iran’s government. Iranian state-linked media and analysts reply that Tehran has activated a “dead hand” doctrine: if senior figures are assassinated again, as they were when the war began, attacks will go on from all 31 provinces. The Guards have threatened undersea internet and communication cables if Iran’s civilian infrastructure is hit again. Citing US intelligence, Axios reported that Iran had “substantially increased” efforts to target American officials in the Middle East and beyond.

Here is the logic of a regime that has been attacked at its head. It tries to make itself headless in advance, so that killing its leaders no longer ends anything.

## Istanbul, without the combatants

Mediated talks between Washington and Tehran remain stuck. On Friday, foreign ministers from Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt met their counterparts from Britain, France, Germany and Italy in Istanbul. Neither the United States nor Iran was there.

> “Military intervention in Iran is by no means a solution. No one is endorsing it at this point.”

That was Hakan Fidan, Turkiye’s foreign minister, who warned that a new attack would widen the war. Germany’s Johann Wadephul blamed Iran and the Houthis for the region’s instability. The four regional ministers, in a joint position, named “Israeli occupation” as its main source. They backed the Islamabad memorandum of understanding signed in June and a negotiated settlement. They demanded unrestricted passage through Hormuz, opposed attacks on civilians and commercial ships, and condemned the Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia. Eight ministers in one room still could not agree on who was causing the war.

Tehran was not impressed. Nour News, which is linked to the Supreme National Security Council, wrote of a “gap between diplomatic claims and realities in the field.” It said Washington and Europe must make concessions first. It also said Hormuz would reopen only if the United States accepted Iran’s demands and admitted responsibility for attacking Iran and Yemen. The reformist daily Etemad wrote that the “zero hour” of another intense round of war was getting close.

Reza Nasri, a Tehran analyst with links to the Foreign Ministry, summed up Iran’s position as “enough is enough.” On X he wrote that Iran “will no longer negotiate under bombardment” and would break the cycle “by all necessary means.”

So the dates are set by the calendar more than by the generals. Israel votes on October 27. America votes on November 3. Before that, the president has said, nothing. Meanwhile mines go on floating in the strait, and the ships that hit them are tankers, not warships. Former defence secretary Mark Esper has already said he expects the war to [run past 2027](https://rews.cc/a/esper-sees-iran-war-dragging-past-2027-possibly-into-the-nex-c64e6b).