“I think it’s largely true because it drove the gasoline [prices] up a little bit in the short term,” Donald Trump said of Iran as a factor. “At the same time, if I had to do it again… I will have to do it again,” he added, apparently speaking of strikes on the country.
Donald Trump had a short and a long answer when asked whether the war in Iran, which the US launched along with Israel in February, was the reason for his Republican Party’s defeat in the midterm polls on Wednesday.
“Largely true,” he said, when a reporter at the White House mentioned Vice President JD Vance’s X post that “the reason we lost is the war”. Vance said many voters who backed Trump in the 2024 presidential polls abandoned Republicans due to frustration over the Middle East conflict.
Trump’s Longer Answer
Trump followed up with longer sentences. “I think it’s largely true because it drove the gasoline [prices] up a little bit in the short term,” he said of Iran as a factor. “At the same time, if I had to do it again… I will have to do it again,” he added, apparently speaking of strikes on the country.
“Because, long-term, that’s the only answer. You can’t let Iran have nuclear weapons,” he argued, adding, “Or everything you see here, someday might not exist. Maybe this room might be the only one that does,” referring to the under-construction ballroom about which he delivered a 20-minute monologue before he took reporters’ questions and finally spoke of the crucial midterms.
“As far as the Iran war is concerned, I wouldn’t have done anything different,” he said to another question later.
He said the Democrats, who now control the US Congress, should not be “destructive”. He mentioned the “veto” he has as President over the legislature’s power to change policy — a caveat he added repeatedly during the election process too.
Tuesday’s midterm election results saw a shift heavily influenced by voter backlash against escalating living costs, tariff policies, and the economic strain of the US-Iran conflict.
What Iran Said
Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezai said earlier on Wednesday that Tehran had now handed Trump a “strategic” and a “political defeat”, as the Democratic Party seized control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in a historic blue wave. “The Iranian nation handed Trump a strategic defeat on the battlefield and in the Hormuz — and a political defeat in Washington,” Rezai said on X, referring to Iran’s blockade of key sea trade route Strait of Hormuz being major leverage during the conflict.