Morning Brief: Election Day, control of Congress on the line; U.S. strikes Iran's Qeshm Island; Russia hits a Kharkiv hospital
Trump calls Iran a 'very soft war'; Qatar seeks an interim U.S.-Iran deal; the Supreme Court hears the Catholic preschools case.
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I'm Nora Vale with your 6 AM World Brief for Tuesday, November 3. Election Day: control of Congress on the line. 57 million-plus voted early. Trump: Iran is a 'very soft war'; 'very good chance' of a deal. U.S. 'defensive' strikes on Qeshm Island; Qatar seeks an interim deal. 289 drones, 76 missiles; Kharkiv hospital hit, 73 injured. Supreme Court hears the Catholic preschools case today. In national weather, from the National Weather Service: Heavy rainfall, isolated severe weather, and gusty winds spread eastward across the Mississippi Valley. Heavy rainfall threat continues along the east coast of Florida today. Our opinion. When our forces are fired on, America answers. Moscow is escalating. Faith shouldn't cost a family a benefit. Today, go vote. Full stories and sources at WorldBriefNow.com. I'm Nora Vale.
U.S. forces struck Iran's Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz late Monday, the first attack there since June, Al Jazeera reported; an unnamed U.S. official told AP the strikes targeted "Iranians using surface-to-air missiles against US assets." The Wall Street Journal, quoting an unnamed official, said the strikes appeared limited and were not a resumption of a major operation, and Fox News said officials confirmed the same. Iran's IRNA had earlier reported the Revolutionary Guard destroyed a U.S. MQ-9 drone east of the strait, and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that "Iran will not submit."
Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said Tuesday that Washington and Tehran are both reviewing mediators' proposals and that Qatar is working toward an interim agreement of confidence-building measures, The Peninsula reported. He said a Qatari delegation returned from Tehran Monday evening after talks lasting more than three hours, but cautioned that "bridging the gap is still a work in progress" and no concrete progress could be announced. Al Jazeera reported Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the supreme leader had given the government "certain authorities" over the talks.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles overnight, mainly at power plants and substations in nine regions, and that a strike on a Kharkiv city hospital injured 73 people, Al Jazeera reported. Zhytomyr's governor said more than 180,000 people were without power, while Russia's Defense Ministry said it targeted energy sites supplying Ukraine's army. Al Jazeera said the attack came a day after at least 31 people were killed in a Russian strike on an aid distribution center, and that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said U.S., Russian and Ukrainian officials will meet in Abu Dhabi next week.
Voting began as early as 5 a.m. ET in Vermont, with the last polls opening at noon ET in Hawaii and the first closing at 6 p.m. ET in parts of Indiana and Kentucky, CBS News reported; it said more than 57 million voters already cast ballots early. All 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats are on the ballot, and Fox News lists Texas (Ken Paxton vs. James Talarico), Michigan (Mike Rogers vs. Abdul El-Sayed), Alaska and South Carolina among the most-watched Senate races. Republicans are defending slim majorities, and RNC Chair Joe Gruters told Fox News Digital, "If our voters turn out, we win."
President Trump told Sean Hannity on Monday, "This isn't a war, this is a very soft war," and said the U.S. is dealing from "total strength," Fox News reported. He said "there is a very good chance we make a deal" but that the U.S. "might have to go after Pickaxe [Mountain]," and he called the Pentagon's estimated cost of more than $47 billion "peanuts." Fox said the remarks came shortly after a "defensive" U.S. strike on Iran's Qeshm Island that officials said does not signal a return to full-scale strikes.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton on Monday denied a wider NAACP request that the Justice Department send no law enforcement officials, ordering only that monitors in DOJ's Poll Monitoring Program be administrative or clerical staff who are not in uniform, not armed and cannot make arrests, Fox News reported. Walton also required DOJ to file a status report early Tuesday explaining how it confirmed none of the monitors are law enforcement officers. Separately, Fox reported DOJ is appealing a judge's dismissal of its lawsuit over two candidates named Dan Sullivan on Alaska's Senate ballot.
The Supreme Court hears argument Tuesday in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, on whether Colorado violated the First Amendment by barring Catholic preschools from its taxpayer-funded universal preschool program unless they accept its rule against refusing admission based on the sexual orientation or gender identity of a child or parents, NBC News reported. The Archdiocese of Denver, represented by Becket, calls the case "uncomplicated" and has the Trump administration's backing; Colorado says religious schools can take part if they follow the rule. Plaintiffs Daniel and Lisa Sheley say they lost more than $12,000 in tuition aid because they chose a church preschool.
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Analysis labeled. Our point of view appears only in the Our Opinion box under each story, never mixed into the facts.
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