Iran War Day 250: Vance Says Iran War Cost GOP Midterms

Foreign Affairs State of the Union: The president also acknowledged the conflict had hurt Republican candidates. Vice President J.D. Vance on Wednesday blamed the Iran War for the Republican Party’s sweeping midterm losses the night before. “The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote in a long post on X. The vice president said a pollster had told him that many Republican voters were turning against the GOP over the unpopular conflict. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, expressed total agreement with Vance's post. President Donald Trump, in a Tuesday night interview with the Wall Street Journal, acknowledged that the war contributed to the Republicans’ poor performance but denied he regretted launching it. Subscribe Today Get daily emails in your inbox Iranian officials also interpreted the election as a rebuke of Trump and the war, now in its ninth month. “Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” said Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a chief negotiator. “If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare.” The Iran War has driven up gasoline prices and general inflation because of fighting around the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for the global energy trade. Iran said Wednesday that four more oil tankers had caught fire after hitting sea mines. Brent crude oil, an international benchmark, dropped sharply on Wednesday following the Democratic victories, dipping to around $94 per barrel by noon U.S. Eastern Time, its lowest level since September 1. The average price of regular gasoline was $4.12 per gallon on Wednesday.