The US struck Iran overnight, and Trump has described the attack as limited, Al Jazeera reported. The Qatari broadcaster said he told Fox News that the US had watched an air defense facility in Iran being built for two months and destroyed it once it was completed.

Trump said the attack did not represent a wide war and that what is happening with Iran is not a war in the traditional sense. He said the US is fully in control of the situation. The US is continuously monitoring Iranian nuclear facilities, he said, and will strike them again if anyone tries to reach them. He added that the US does not seek to kill large numbers in Iran after the elections, but will do what is necessary if it has to.

The strike matters because it is an act, not a statement. Since Trump's October 8 pledge not to strike, traders have tracked the distance between the Pentagon's drafted options and an actual order. That distance has now closed. Hitting a site before it was completed fits the contained picture he has drawn of the post-election period, and the talk on Monday of a settlement as soon as possible.

But the threat against the nuclear sites keeps the confrontation open. Restraint in the words and a willingness to strike in the deed sit side by side, and the standoff goes into the post-election window unresolved.

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