Trump acknowledged that the war against Iran contributed to sweeping Republican losses in the midterm elections but refused to express regret over launching the conflict, as Republican strategists blamed the military aggression, soaring fuel prices and failed foreign policy decisions for the party’s electoral collapse.
“Iran was a piece of it,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal in a phone interview Tuesday night when asked whether the war had hurt Republican candidates.
The admission came as Trump’s longtime allies increasingly blamed the war onIran for the party’s losses, arguing that the economic fallout of the US war against Iran had driven up gasoline and diesel prices and intensified pressure on American households.
Republican strategists said the conflict had become a major political liability, with one campaign insider directly linking the outcome to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I hope Chuck Schumer calls Bibi Netanyahu and thanks him for his victory. This war was a disaster. People need to be clear-eyed about it,” a Republican strategist involved in the midterm campaigns told The New York Post.
Another source close to Trump blamed advisers who had promoted military confrontation without accounting for its consequences.
“It took some time, almost two years, but we finally have an answer to the question of what happens when you take military and political advice from a mouth breathing buffoon like Mark Levin,” the source said.
“Every piece of data we have says it was the war and gas prices.”
A senior Republican strategist also attributed the party’s defeat directly to the conflict.
“We got destroyed because of Iran,” the strategist said, adding that the war had sent gasoline and diesel prices soaring.
“If Republicans want to rebuild, the first step is ending the war in Iran and embracing an actual America First foreign policy,” the strategist said.
Meanwhile, a Trump political adviser accused members of the president’s inner circle of misleading him into a military confrontation without a credible exit strategy.
“Too many people sat silently, or even worse, misled the president into a war without a realistic exit,” the adviser said.
The adviser added that those who had promised Trump an easy way out had instead left him trapped in a conflict while avoiding responsibility for their decisions.
Criticism also extended to the administration’s domestic priorities and the conduct of former officials.
John Ullyot, a former Trump Pentagon official, said the president’s first administration would have held those responsible accountable much sooner.
“In his first term, heads on his team would have rolled months ago,” Ullyot told The Post.
“Voters elected Trump to drain the swamp and lower their costs, not to watch his former aides cash in and hear non-stop about ballrooms and arches — not to mention an endless war in Iran,” he said.
Despite acknowledging the war’s contribution to the Republican defeat, Trump maintained that he did not regret launching it.