Trump links Republican midterm defeat to Iran war as Democrats take Congress

President Donald Trump has conceded that the war in Iran “largely” contributed to the Republican Party’s defeat in the US midterm elections, but said he would still have ordered the military operation. The admission came as Democrats secured control of both chambers of Congress and prepared to use their new position to challenge the conflict. Speaking to Fox News, Trump said Iran was one factor in the result and linked the war to higher petrol prices.

He maintained that many Americans supported military action against Tehran but were unwilling to absorb its immediate economic effects. In remarks reported by the South China Morning Post, he said: “If I had it to do again, I’d have to do it again.” Trump’s explanation was narrower than that offered by Vice-President J.D. Vance.

Vance wrote on X that “the reason we lost is the war”, saying many voters who had supported Trump in 2024 returned to the polls but voted for Democrats. He cited an unnamed pollster who found that ending the conflict was the leading demand among former Trump voters, followed by action on the cost of living. The South China Morning Post reported that an NBC News exit poll found 62 per cent of voters believed the United States had made the wrong decision by taking military action against Iran.

Trump, however, said Republicans would have won if he had been on the ballot, arguing that his popularity at rallies had not transferred to the party’s candidates. The Democratic victory reached states that Trump had won by double digits in 2024. Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton in Texas, while Annie Andrews won in South Carolina.

In Kansas, Adam Hamilton ended a Republican Senate winning streak dating to 1932. Sherrod Brown also won the Ohio seat Vance had vacated when he became vice-president. Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said the new majority’s immediate priority would be household costs, including petrol, food, healthcare and heating.

On Iran, he repeatedly said the war “must end” and pointed to Congress’s constitutional control over spending. He did not explicitly propose cutting defence funding, but said Democrats had leverage and that some Republicans also supported ending the conflict. Iranian officials presented the result as a rejection of the war.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is also Iran’s chief negotiator in talks with Washington, said Americans had voted “NO TO WAR” and wrote that Tehran endorsed the message. Security official Mohsen Rezai said the American people were bearing the financial burden of the conflict. The war’s wider effects remain visible around the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed four oil tankers caught fire after hitting naval mines, while the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre reported that a tanker was struck by two unidentified projectiles near Oman. No casualties were reported in that incident, although an Indian crew member was killed in a separate attack the previous day. Negotiations between Washington and Tehran remain stalled.

Iran says a seven-point proposal, mediated by Qatar, could be implemented within two days, while Trump has said the conflict will end “when I say it ends”. Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned that any renewed fighting would be broader, and President Masoud Pezeshkian said no one would benefit if the war resumed.