Trump Midterm Defeat: Iran War Blamed as Vance Breaks Ranks

After the Trump midterm defeat, President Donald Trump has admitted that the Iran war and high petrol prices hurt Republicans, but he insists the war was the right decision and blames his absence from the ballot and weak candidates for the loss. Vice President JD Vance went further, saying the war was the reason the party lost Congress, Al Jazeera reported.

What Trump said about the Trump midterm defeat

Democrats won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in Tuesday's vote. Speaking to Fox News by phone late on Tuesday, US time, Trump said the economy was strong but voters did not feel it because of the price of gasoline, which he said "was caused by Iran".

He said people agreed with his Iran policy but were not willing to accept the short-term cost of paying more at the pump. Asked about the war by The Wall Street Journal, he said: "I did the right thing. I would have done it again."

Trump also told The New York Times that Republicans struggled because "I wasn't on the ticket". He said some candidates he endorsed had "a lot of flaws" and were not acceptable to voters.

Vance breaks ranks on the Iran war

Vance, seen as a likely 2028 presidential candidate, took a different line. "The reason we lost is the war," he wrote, according to Al Jazeera. He challenged anyone who believed losing the Senate for six years was worth it to make that case, and said any honest talk about the party's future must start there.

Reuters described Vance as distancing himself from the decision to go to war and questioning whether it was worth it.

Republican strategist James Davis told Al Jazeera the war helped shift voters toward Democrats, but argued the bigger problem was the lack of a clear strategy that gave people confidence. He said higher energy and diesel costs had hit every part of the economy and deepened worries about affordability.

Abbott, a veto cap and no cabinet changes

Key moments from the president's reaction:

• Greg Abbott: Trump said the Texas governor, a long-time ally who lost his race, would not have lost if he had not become a "RINO", or Republican in name only.
• Veto warning: Trump posted a picture of his red cap with the word "veto", a sign he plans to block bills from the new Democratic Congress.
• Cabinet: he told Fox News he would not make cabinet changes, saying the result "had nothing to do with my cabinet".
• Working with Democrats: he said he expected to "get along very well" with Democrats, but would be "very tough" if they did not cooperate.

What it means for the Iran war

Markets read the result as a sign the war may end sooner. Oil prices fell more than 8% on Wednesday, and two sources close to Gulf governments told Reuters a weaker Trump had more reason to seek a deal. Trump told the Financial Times the US had no immediate plans to strike Iran.

Tehran is not softening its tone. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said US hostility would continue whichever party held power, and a senior Iranian official said the two sides remain far from a deal.

For Thailand and the wider region, the key questions are whether a divided Washington changes US policy on the Gulf, on trade and on energy prices. The new Congress takes office on January 3. Read the full report from Al Jazeera.

Background: US midterm results: Democrats win Congress, Iran-US talks stall and Trump's plan to end Israel aid.

Photo: the north facade of the White House, Washington, by Nishkid64 / Wikimedia Commons, public domain. File photo; the Trump midterm defeat hands Congress to Democrats from January.