The United States and Israel have drawn up detailed plans to resume strikes on Iran after the US midterm elections on November 3, The New York Times reported on Wednesday evening, citing American officials and sources familiar with the discussions. According to the report, preparations are advancing for a “short but intensive” operation, likely lasting about three days, that would strike Iran's nuclear facilities, energy infrastructure and missile and drone systems.

The Times reported that some US officials believe such an intensive three-day offensive “could cause enough economic damage to change the Iranian position.” The report stressed that the United States has not yet made a decision to launch an attack and that President Donald Trump has not approved a new operation, while diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement with Iran are continuing.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed the plans with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Israel this week, according to the reports. Axios reported on Wednesday, citing Israeli and American officials, that dozens of Israeli Air Force fighter jets conducted an operational sortie on Monday, flying about 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) to the vicinity of Iran's border; Axios said the sortie was unrelated to Hegseth's visit, which took place the same day.

The new reporting follows a Financial Times report on Wednesday that Israel's military had prepared a multi-day bombing campaign against Iran about a week and a half earlier, over the weekend of October 10, but that the operation did not go ahead because Trump opposed resuming hostilities before the midterm elections. The Financial Times said the planned targets in that earlier plan included civilian infrastructure such as power plants, nuclear facilities and other regime targets.

Iran, for its part, signalled it is preparing its own response. Iranian media reported that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei met Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf — who leads Iran's negotiations with the Americans through intermediaries such as Qatar and Pakistan — on Wednesday, reviewed the latest military developments, and stressed strengthening Iran's sources of power and national unity, which he described as a deterrent, ANI reported. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Iranian forces have prepared a “more devastating plan” that will not follow “the rules they are familiar with,” Iranian media reported.

Iranian officials have also threatened that any renewed attack would trigger a broader response, including strikes on data centres and undersea internet cables, and warned the confrontation would not be short, according to the Times' reporting. These are the stated positions and reported plans of the sides involved; no new strike had been launched as of this report, and none of the planning claims has been confirmed by the US or Israeli governments on the record.

Sources: The New York Times reporting (Wednesday evening) as summarised by Bytes Europe and NewsBeep; ANI reporting on Iranian media coverage of the Khamenei–Ghalibaf meeting and Mohsen Rezaei's remarks, carried by Latestly and the Indian Economic Observer; Axios and Financial Times reporting as cited in those summaries.