Why Trump still defends the Iran war after losing Congress
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump said higher petrol prices helped cost Republicans control of Congress, but he stood by his decision to attack Iran. Speaking to Fox News as the scale of Tuesday’s midterm losses became clear, the US president argued that the price Americans paid at the pump had overshadowed what he regarded as a strong economy. He rejected the suggestion that the result amounted to a personal rebuke.
“Iran was a piece of it,” Trump told reporters when asked how much the war had contributed to the defeat. The US and Israeli strikes on Iran began in February, during a second term Trump had campaigned on a promise to avoid new wars. He has defended the military action on the grounds that it weakened Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
The electoral losses reached states Trump had won comfortably two years earlier. Democrats captured a Senate seat and the governorship in Texas, elected the first Democratic senator from Kansas since the 1930s and flipped more than two dozen Republican-held House districts. Voters’ frustration with the cost of living extended beyond fuel, although rising petrol prices gave households a direct financial stake in a war being fought overseas.
Tehran sees a warning against renewed strikes
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Tehran’s chief negotiator, interpreted the vote as a warning to Washington against attacking again. In a post on X, he said Americans had rejected the war, whether their concern was its human cost or the cost of living. That was Tehran’s reading of an election in which Americans voted on congressional candidates and a range of domestic issues.
The immediate concern in Tehran was whether fighting would resume. Trump declined on Tuesday to rule out further combat operations, and two senior Iranian sources told Reuters their country remained on high alert for renewed strikes. Mediators have intensified efforts to end the conflict, leaving the next military decision with the same president whose party voters removed from control of Congress.
Anyone with additional information can contact the press desk at press@townpress.co.za or drop a tip.