NEW YORK POST
Beware Iran’s most devious weapon — another ‘October surprise’
Mark Dubowitz
August 20, 2026

…We may soon face another Iranian ploy aimed at leveraging foreign elections to weaken the regime’s enemies. Israel’s election is scheduled for Oct. 27; the US midterms are Nov. 3, exactly one week later. That makes the end of October a potentially dangerous window for regime mischief. Tehran could attack Israel directly or engineer a serious escalation through one of its terror proxies — calculating that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, days before an election, would have little choice but to respond forcefully. Imagine a ballistic missile barrage, massive enough to overwhelm Israeli defenses, killing scores of civilians in Tel Aviv or Haifa. Or an Iranian terrorist proxy carrying out a mass-casualty attack against an Israeli population center. The precise scenario is unknowable, but the calculation is not: Inflict enough carnage that no Israeli prime minister could allow it to go unanswered. But Tehran would be counting on that response. READ MORE