The Trump administration has warned Iran that continued “malign activities” will bring consequences, as concerns grow that fighting between the United States and Iran could resume after the midterm elections.
With the 2026 elections only days away and conflict continuing across the Middle East, foreign ministers from the world’s largest economies met in Atlanta ahead of the G20 leaders’ gathering in December.
Iran can choose diplomacy and a path toward stability and prosperity, State Department principal deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said Friday. But if Tehran continues its current course, he added, there will be consequences, pointing to actions already taken by President Donald Trump.
Pigott was asked about reports that U.S. officials had urged regional partners to prepare for possible increased military action against Iran after Tuesday’s elections, and for the possibility of Iranian retaliation.
Trump has not made a final decision about renewed strikes. However, U.S. diplomats and defense officials have privately told several Middle Eastern countries and regional allies to prepare for that possibility, according to a report citing two diplomats briefed on the warnings.
The warnings come as concern grows over Iranian threats against Americans abroad. Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton wrote in an unclassified memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio that U.S. intelligence indicated Iran had “substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel.” The memo also said lethal Iranian plots in the Middle East and elsewhere had reached “advanced stages.”
Asked whether the threats had come up in discussions with G20 counterparts, or whether the United States was sharing intelligence with allies to disrupt potential plots, Pigott declined to discuss intelligence matters.
“We’re going to work with our partners to make sure that any transnational threat has the appropriate transnational response to protect our citizens,” he said.
The possibility of renewed conflict with Iran hung over the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting. Rubio has identified energy security, reliable supply chains and freedom of navigation as U.S. priorities.
Opening the two-day meeting Friday, Rubio warned that the world’s largest economies face “interconnected economic and geopolitical crises” that threaten energy and food supplies, trade, global supply chains and freedom of navigation.
The administration’s position, Pigott said, is that no country should be able to take control of an international waterway and charge ships tolls to pass through it.
During the war, Iran asserted greater authority over the Strait of Hormuz and claimed the right to charge ships fees for services, including navigation and environmental protection.
Asked what the United States wants G20 countries to do to keep the strait open, Pigott pointed to the broader need to keep international waterways free from coercion.
“The principle here is so important: making sure we have secure international waterways, without tolls or coercion, and secure supply chains,” he said.
