NYT reports plans for fresh strikes on Iran after the US midterm elections

JUST IN: US and Israel are reportedly planning fresh strikes on Iran after the US midterm elections, according to the New York Times.

The United States and Israel are planning fresh strikes on Iran, according to the New York Times.

The report says the attacks would come after the US midterm elections in November. The timing is deliberate. Washington wants the domestic vote out of the way before any new military action, and you can see the pressure on the other side too, because Benjamin Netanyahu faces his own election within days and analysts say he is fighting for his political career.

This follows an earlier three day joint attack on Iran, which experts told France 24 did not radically change the conflict. In Tehran, officials have not yet responded publicly to the report. The wider region is already strained, with Saudi Arabia under Houthi attack and Egypt weighing whether to join that fight.

So the hardest fact tonight is this. Two governments are reportedly planning the next round of strikes, and both have scheduled them around their own elections.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.