Trump admits Iran war cost Republicans midterm votes, says he would do it again
Acknowledging that the war and rising fuel prices hurt Republicans, Trump insists military action against Iran was necessary to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (November 4) said it was “largely true” that the war in Iran cost the Republicans heavy losses in the midterm election, but struck a defiant note, saying he would do it again as it was the “only answer” in the “long term”.
"Well, I think it's largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short term," Trump told reporters when asked about Vice President JD Vance’s remarks that the Iran war led to Republican losses in the election.
"But at the same time, if I had it to do again, I'd have to do it again. Because long term, it's the only answer. You can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon," he said.
The president insisted that the US would have done nothing different as far as the war was concerned.
"But I can tell you that as far as that war is concerned, I would have done nothing different. We've totally broken their military. The navy's gone. Their air force is gone. Their anti-aircraft is gone," Trump said.
Also read | Blue wave, red flags: How Iran War, rising prices cost Trump the midterms
“The Iran thing, we had to do, and we continue to do it. We have tremendous oil flowing out of the Hormuz Strait now. At the beginning, there was none. And, probably that's the primary reason – the price, not the war, the price (of oil),” Trump said.
The president also said that he was not considering replacing Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, despite public dissatisfaction with the war with Iran. Hegseth is “doing a great job", he said.
Vance too blames Iran war for defeat
Vice President JD Vance, often eyed as Trump's likely successor at the White House, blamed the president's war in Iran for Republicans' midterm wipeout.
In a lengthy statement on X, Vance argued that the party's defeat was not simply a result of poor voter turnout. Instead, he said, many Americans who had supported the Trump-Vance ticket in the 2024 presidential election had switched sides and voted for Democrats in the midterms.
Pointing to internal polling, Vance identified four major reasons behind the voter backlash: the war, rising living costs, concerns over the administration's commitment to its 'America First' agenda and dissatisfaction with Washington's relationship with Israel.
"The reason we lost is the war," Vance wrote. He said Republican analysts had initially been encouraged by voter turnout figures, believing that the party's supporters were showing up in sufficient numbers. However, one of the data analysts he consulted warned that turnout figures did not necessarily mean those voters would support Republican candidates.