Today in One Sentence. Trump said the U.S. would not attack Iran before the midterm elections; the Pentagon instructed U.S. Central Command to prepare to resume major combat operations in Iran; the Trump administration indefinitely suspended Microsoft and seven other technology firms from using the H-1B visa program that allows foreign workers to seek permanent residency in the U.S.; Trump made his third trip to Texas in less than a month to campaign for Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, who is trailing Democrat James Talarico in recent polls ahead of the midterms; Democratic congressional candidate Bernadette Greene-Placentia said she was raped by two men after repairing one of her campaign signs; Trump declared that anyone using “Artificial Intelligence” instead of “Super Intelligence” “THE ENEMY!”; and the Pentagon will livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan.

1/ Trump said the U.S. would not attack Iran before the midterm elections. He claimed that the U.S. and Iran were having “productive discussions.” Nevertheless, Trump said in the same Truth Social post that the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian oil exports “will remain in full force and effect” while the military sends another aircraft carrier and thousands of troops to the region. (Associated Press / Reuters / CNN / CNBC / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Axios / Washington Post)

2/ The Pentagon instructed U.S. Central Command to prepare to resume major combat operations in Iran. While Trump has not made a final decision and ruled out strikes before the Nov. 3 midterms, the options under discussion include limited strikes and large-scale attacks on Iranian energy, infrastructure, and nuclear targets. Last week, Trump said he believed the U.S. would win the war after the election, adding “Maybe before the election.” At a campaign rally in San Antonio on Wednesday, Trump said a deal with Iran “isn’t really something that I want to do,” but claimed Iran was “willing to offer us anything to stop.” Negotiations, meanwhile, have made no progress. (Axios / CNBC / NBC News / The Atlantic)

3/ The Trump administration indefinitely suspended Microsoft and seven other technology firms from using the H-1B visa program that allows foreign workers to seek permanent residency in the U.S. JD Vance accused Microsoft of visa fraud, saying “You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.” Vance claimed the program had become “rife” with fraud over the “past several years,” and that no company has “abused” the system more than Microsoft. He didn’t provide evidence that workers had been replaced. Microsoft, however, said that 80% of its roughly 6,000 H-1B applications last fiscal year were for existing employees. “These were not to hire new people,” the company said. Hours later, Trump awarded Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, calling the honor “so well deserved.” Nadella once ⁠held an H-1B visa. (Reuters / Associated Press / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Semafor / The Verge / The Guardian / Politico / The Hill / TechCrunch / Axios)

4/ Trump made his third trip to Texas in less than a month to campaign for Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, who is trailing Democrat James Talarico in recent polls ahead of the midterms. Trump won Texas by more than 13 points in 2024, but Republicans are now spending heavily to defend a state that hasn’t elected a Democratic U.S. senator since 1988. Trump praised Paxton as a “fantastic man” and warned that a vote for Talarico would turn Texas into a “dirty, failing, crime-ridden third-world dumping ground.” Paxton, however, was recorded privately saying the Iran war and high fuel prices were hurting his campaign and that Trump’s midterm convention in Dallas “dropped our numbers.” In another leaked recording, Paxton called for “reasonable cuts to mandatory spending” to reduce the federal deficit without identifying which programs he would cut. About three-quarters of mandatory federal spending goes to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. (Bloomberg / CNN / New York Times / Associated Press / Reuters / Axios / MS Now / Texas Tribune)

5/ Democratic congressional candidate Bernadette Greene-Placentia said she was raped by two men after repairing one of her campaign signs. Greene-Placentia told the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office that the two men attacked her in the early morning of Aug. 14, knocking her unconscious in a parking lot northwest of Phoenix. She said she chose to tell her story because “I can’t go around telling people I’m going to fight for them if I’m not going to fight for women who are victims of sexual violence.” (Phoenix New Times / ABC News / New York Times / MS Now / The Hill / CNN)

6/ Trump declared that anyone using “Artificial Intelligence” instead of “Super Intelligence” “THE ENEMY!” His executive order directs federal agencies to use his preferred term in official communications. The order, however, sets no penalty for using “AI” and does not apply to private companies. Meanwhile, the White House changed the text on AI.gov to read “SI.gov,” but the address remains AI.gov while SI.gov leads to an error page. (Axios / Politico / Business Insider / The Independent)

7/ The Pentagon will livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan. Trump approved the Dec. 3 execution of Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in the 2009 shooting. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the firing squad “as it should be” and said “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.” If carried out, it would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961. (Axios / Associated Press / Politico / ABC News / CNN / Washington Post)

The 2026 midterms are in 26 days; and the 2028 presidential election is in 761 days.