Donald Trump said on Thursday the United ⁠States is having productive discussions with Iran and will not launch an ⁠attack on ​the country ⁠before US midterm congressional elections in ⁠November.

“We are having ​productive ⁠discussions with the ‌Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump wrote in a ‌post on Truth ‌Social. He said the US blockade of Iranian ⁠ports remains in effect and that oil is flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.

“We will not be attacking Iran at ‌any time prior ​to the Midterm ‌Elections to ⁠be held in the ⁠United States on November 3rd,” ‌Trump ​said.

The U.S. military has seen 81 fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft worth as much as $3.3 billion damaged or destroyed in President Donald Trump’s war with Iran so far, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

Trump launched his Operation Epic Fury airstrikes against Tehran, in partnership with Israel, on February 28, since when it has seen airplanes, helicopters and drones hit in retaliatory strikes.

The total cited includes a costly F-35A fighter jet and a four-engine E-3 Sentry among the casualties, while MQ-9 Reaper drones, used for surveillance and search-and-rescue operations, account for more than half of the losses.

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US military installations in Germany, including Ramstein and Spangdahlem air bases, are being targeted by Iranian intelligence services amid concerns over potential covert attacks linked to the Iran conflict, news outlet WirtschaftsWoche reported on Thursday.

Three weeks ago, Israel warned US and German partners of a potential threat, with concern focused on bases supporting American military operations and logistics linked to the conflict with Iran. The report cited several unnamed Western intelligence officials.

The Iranian and Israeli embassies in Berlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The German defence ministry declined comment.

“It is inappropriate to discuss matters of intelligence, and we will not comment on specific threat reporting or force protection measures,” a US European Command Spokesperson said. “US European Command remains vigilant and continuously assesses the security environment across the European theatre.”

A source told Reuters that Germany has been monitoring increased Iranian activity for weeks, without referencing what was mentioned in the WirtschaftsWoche article in particular.

A military spokesperson for Yemen’s Houthis warned workers at Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities to avoid sites the group considers targets and renewed threats of attacks against airlines and airports in a statement on Wednesday amid escalating violence between the two sides.

The flydubai co-pilot who allegedly stabbed a flight captain to hijack a plane en route to Israel referred to women as “rotten flesh” in a series of misogynistic social media posts in the years before his arrest, according to a report.

Hamam Al-Hammami, 29, is accused of attempting to crash the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on 30 September after attacking the pilot with a crash axe.

But he was stopped when passengers broke into the cockpit and tied him up with headphone wires, before a reserve flydubai pilot travelling on the flight landed the aircraft at a regional airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The Omani national was subsequently arrested and transferred to Abu Dhabi, where he is being questioned.

The USS Abraham Lincoln is returning home to San Diego Thursday after supporting the Iran war during a record long deployment of 265 uninterrupted days at sea that included reports of deteriorating conditions among its crew.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew out to the carrier on Wednesday to give the crew the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor a unit can receive that is typically reserved for significant achievement in combat.

Hegseth pushed back against what he said were efforts to turn the “Lincoln into some sort of a symbol, a symbol of dysfunction or a symbol of low morale or a symbol of a failed mission.”

Smoke has been seen rising from a stationary aircraft at Riyadh airport on Thursday, according to a witness and three people briefed on the matter.

There was no immediate official confirmation from Saudi authorities on the reported incident.

The aircraft was believed to be empty at the time, the sources said.

Late on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia said that one person had been killed in a strike on Riyadh airport and two others in an attack on Abha airport in the southwest.

Iranian intelligence services are targeting U.S. military ⁠bases in Germany, including Ramstein and Spangdahlem, amid concerns over ⁠potential ​covert attacks linked ⁠to the Iran conflict, ⁠German news outlet WirtschaftsWoche reported ​on ⁠Thursday.

Israel warned ‌US and German partners three weeks ‌ago of a potential ‌threat, with concern focused on bases ⁠supporting US military operations and logistics linked to the conflict with Iran, the report said citing several unnamed ‌Western intelligence officials.

IRGC adviser Majid Mirahmadi said on Thursday that an average of just 10 ships a day were passing through the waterway, down sharply from about 125 before the war.

“The strait of ‌Hormuz is closed, ‌and the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran have ‌full control over it,” he told the Fars news agency.

However, US secretary of state Marco Rubio disputed Iran’s account, saying Tehran had “lost complete control” of the strait and that “there’s almost as much oil flowing out now as there was before this conflict began”.

Meanwhile, shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen to its lowest level in more than two months after tanker attacks intensified last week, according to Kpler.

The latest data shows that just seven commodity vessels passed through the strait on Tuesday, the lowest number since 23 July.

A tanker off Qatar’s northern coast was struck by “multiple projectiles”, causing an unknown number of casualties, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency.

The attack came as tensions around the Strait of Hormuz intensified, with Iran saying it would close a southern route used by some vessels to bypass its blockade.

At least 12 attacks on oil and gas tankers were recorded around the strait in the week to 5 October, while India said 12 crew members were injured in a separate tanker attack.

Iran says it has full control of the strait, but US secretary of state Marco Rubio disputes this, saying Iran has “lost complete control” and that oil flows are close to pre-war levels.