Trump says Iran war at 'status quo' but warns US military 'locked and loaded'

What to Know About the Iran War Today

President Trump said Monday the U.S. was keeping the Iran war at "status quo" but warned that American forces were "locked and loaded."

In a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday, Mr. Trump said he does not currently see "any reason" to escalate the war. However, he defended starting the conflict as "historically" a good decision, despite its economic impact.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio curbed expectations late Sunday, saying talks are not "at the verge of a breakthrough" because Iran's demands are "unacceptable."

New Updates

Explosions Heard Over Saudi Capital as Authorities Say Houthi Missile Intercepted

21 minutes ago

Multiple explosions were heard over Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, early Tuesday, as the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said it shot down a missile targeting the city, which has suffered weeks of disruptive attacks.

Journalists working for the French news agency AFP heard several blasts as residents received a cell phone alert urging them to shelter from an "aerial threat." The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile.

"Air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh," the coalition posted on X.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has faced near-daily Houthi strikes since early October, including attacks that killed 20 people and closed Riyadh's airport for two weeks.

CBS/AFP

Iran Claims 2 More Ships Hit by Explosions in Strait of Hormuz, Including One Under U.S. Escort

53 minutes ago

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed Tuesday that two more oil tankers attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz were "halted by powerful explosions and left burning."

The IRGC said in a statement that one of the vessels struck a naval mine, while the other was under the protection of U.S. fighter jets when it "suffered an incident and was brought to a halt at its location amid a massive fire."

Both Iran and the U.S. have been attacking ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz for weeks, accusing the vessels of breaching their respective restrictions on access to the waterway.

The IRGC said the tankers affected Tuesday had been traveling through what Tehran considers unauthorized shipping lanes close to Oman's coast in the southern part of the vital waterway, which the U.S. insists are safe and open.

Iran has warned repeatedly that the southern route is "unsafe" and that all vessels working with the U.S. "will meet the same fate."

Brent Crude Oil Drops Briefly Below $90 a Barrel as Downward Trend Continues

5:38 AM

The price of oil continued its more than week-long downward trend Tuesday, as markets appeared optimistic that a return to a full-scale U.S. war with Iran was not imminent.

The price of Brent crude, the international standard, hovered around $90 per barrel Tuesday morning after briefly dropping below the price point for the first time since the end of August.

U.S. benchmark crude oil was down 2.2% to $84.94 per barrel.

The fall in global oil prices has come as President Trump makes repeated comments signalling hope for a diplomatic resolution to the war with Iran.

He has not ruled out the possibility of more U.S. strikes, but told CBS' 60 Minutes in an interview aired Sunday that he did not see "any reason" to escalate the war at present.

Mr. Trump then said on Monday, after meeting the prime minister of Qatar, who has been a key mediator between the two sides, that the war "militarily, is effectively over," and that he believed there was "positive momentum" toward a deal to end the eight-month conflict.

He called a resumption of U.S. strikes "highly unlikely," but said the U.S. remained "locked and loaded" should circumstances on the ground change.

CBS/AP

Trump: "I Hope We're Going to Be Able to Make a Deal With Them"

5:59 PM / November 9, 2026

President Trump expressed hope that the U.S. and Iran can make a deal.

"Look, Iran, I hope we're going to be able to make a deal with them," Mr. Trump said during an impromptu news conference. "But nothing's going to happen. And if we have to, we'll take very serious. We are so loaded."

Gas Prices Could Drop Below $4 a Gallon as Soon as Tuesday

5:37 PM / November 9, 2026

The average price of a gallon of gas could drop below $4 as soon as Tuesday, the first time prices at the pump have been that low since July.

As of Monday, AAA lists the national average price for a gallon of regular gas at $4.0093. That's down over 36 cents from a month ago and 16 cents from a week ago.

Diesel prices have not fallen as fast, dropping only about 10 cents in the last month and remaining about $2.44 a gallon higher than a year ago. But diesel is down from its all-time high set on Sept. 22.

The relative status quo in the Iran war has kept gas prices from spiking, and investor optimism that the midterm election results will mean an end to the conflict has pushed the price of U.S. crude oil below $90 a barrel.

Prices traditionally decline in the fall and winter because of a switch to the less expensive winter-blend gasoline and Americans are generally driving less. At the same time, refinery maintenance season is ending, so capacity and production increases, and more supply becomes available.

Trump Says Iran War at "Status Quo," Warns U.S. "Locked and Loaded"

5:33 PM / November 9, 2026

President Trump said Monday the U.S. was keeping the Iran war at "status quo" but warned that American forces were "locked and loaded."

"Iran, militarily, is effectively over. We're just keeping it the status quo. And we're doing that really at the behest of countries that are their neighbors," Mr. Trump told reporters.

Mr. Trump also warned that the U.S. was "fully locked and loaded with the best equipment ever made" if the situation were to change.

"We don't think there's going to be any reason to use it however," Mr. Trump said.

Updated Articles of Impeachment Against Hegseth Introduced in House

2:37 PM / November 9, 2026

Updated articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were introduced on the House floor Monday, restarting a two-day clock for GOP leaders to schedule a vote.

GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky had introduced articles of impeachment against the defense secretary in September. House GOP leaders recessed the chamber early, pushing off a vote on the issue until November. Massie introduced a new resolution to comply with parliamentary procedure, according to a source familiar with the effort.

In a 34-page impeachment resolution with eight articles, Massie accused Hegseth of high crimes and misdemeanors. Three articles accuse him of abusing the powers of the Department of Defense by waging war against Iran without congressional authorization.

Read more here.

Hegseth Says He's Not Worried About Impeachment

1:27 PM / November 9, 2026

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he's not worried about a vote on articles of impeachment that could happen in the House as early as this week.

"We're not worried about that," Hegseth told reporters Monday.

He said he planned to hold a news conference on the impeachment effort Tuesday morning.

Read more here.

Tanker Attacked in Strait of Hormuz Over the Weekend, British Naval Agency Says

1:10 PM / November 9, 2026

A tanker that was ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday was attacked, a British naval agency said Monday.

In a post on X, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said that military authorities had reported the vessel was on fire, forcing the crew to evacuate, and that it had reclassified the incident as an attack.

The incident took place 8 nautical miles north of Khasab, Oman.

UKMTO did not give any details on the potential perpetrator or the vessel.

Meanwhile, Iran's state broadcaster IRIB said Monday that four tankers had been halted in the Strait of Hormuz over the preceding 24 hours. In a post on X, IRIB said the ships were "brought to a standstill," without offering any further detail.

Both Iran and the U.S. have attacked ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz that they consider to be breaching their respective restrictions on the waterway.

Saudi Arabia's East-West Crude Oil Pipeline Targeted Again, Energy Ministry Says

12:40 PM / November 9, 2026

Saudi Arabia's crucial East-West Crude Oil Pipeline has been targeted again, the kingdom's energy ministry said Monday. In a post on X, the ministry said a "limited fire" broke out on a section of the pipeline in the Medina region, and that no deaths or injuries were reported.

There was also "no disruption to the pipeline's operations," the statement added.

An attack on the pipeline in September, which Saudi Arabia blamed on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, put the pipeline out of action for several weeks.

Saudi authorities did not say who they suspected to have carried out Monday's attack on the pipeline.

Saudi Arabia is the top crude oil producer in the world besides the United States, and it has used the East-West pipeline as a vital workaround to export its products given insecurity for tankers in the Persian Gulf amid the U.S. war with Iran.

French Officials Accuse Iran of Being Behind Store Refrigerator and Freezer Hacks in October

Updated 12:26 PM / November 9, 2026

French officials believe Iran was behind nationwide cyberattacks on commercial refrigeration in October, the Paris Prosecutor's office said Monday, accusing a cyber unit of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of carrying out the costly hacks.

The Oct. 11 hacking attacks struck major supermarket chains across the country, hitting "700 retail locations across France," according to the prosecutor's office, which said the attack caused "significant food spoilage and triggered roughly twenty fires" as the temperatures in refrigeration units shot up.

The attacks on the French grocery store chains were followed weeks later by similar hacks affecting refrigerators and freezers at supermarkets in Belgium, Luxembourg and Sweden.

In August, refrigeration outages at six U.S. military bases sparked an ongoing investigation by the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division, Thomas Hamilton, a public affairs officer for the department, told CBS News.

Read more here.

Top UAE Official Says Complete Resolution of U.S.-Iran War and Regional Stability Unlikely for "Long Period"

10:45 AM / November 9, 2026

A senior official from the United Arab Emirates said Monday that the U.S.-Iran war was unlikely to be decisively settled for a "long period."

Dr. Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the president and a senior figure within the administration of the United Arab Emirates, said Iran was facing "one of the most serious challenges" in its history, with an ailing economy, pressure on its leadership and a "fundamental dispute" with the U.S. and international community over its nuclear capabilities.

"These factors make a comprehensive political settlement difficult," he said, referring to the ongoing war. "We should therefore prepare for a long period of uncertainty in which neither a decisive resolution nor a stable regional order can be taken for granted."

The UAE always opposed the war, he added in his remarks at the Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate event on Monday, according to a transcript provided by the Emirati foreign ministry.

"Our assessment was guided by a fundamental understanding of the region. Wars begin through deliberate decisions, but their consequences rarely remain within the calculations of those who initiate them," he said.

Gargash said it was "perhaps too early to fully assess the impact of the U.S. midterm elections on Washington's approach toward Iran," and added that the UAE would "reinforce efforts to pursue diplomati...

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