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Tensions between the US and Iran have escalated into direct armed clashes across the Gulf region, with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claiming attacks on US Navy destroyers (DDG-119 and DDG-53) and on oil tankers and vessels in the Gulf, describing these as retaliation for earlier US strikes. Iranian state media reported that 'several areas' in Sirik, along with Qeshm Island and Minab County, were hit by projectiles fired by 'the enemy,' pointing to continued military exchanges on Iranian territory. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei separately accused US Secretary of State Marco Rubio of falsely portraying Yemen's Houthis as Iranian proxies, arguing that regional instability stems from US military interventions rather than Iranian actions. The conflict, now seven months old, has become a political flashpoint in the United States. President Donald Trump told supporters the war would end 'right after midterms,' a claim that loomed over his appearance at a Republican midterm convention in Dallas, where backers argued he could still rally voters despite unease over the unpopular war and rising prices. The remarks and the domestic political fallout underscore how the conflict has become entangled with US electoral politics even as fighting and strikes continue in the Gulf and on Iranian soil.