Trump says Iran war worth it despite midterm election losses

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the war in Iran was worth the political and economic costs as his Republican Party lost the midterm elections, insisting that the country had “no choice” but to take military action to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons, Anadolu reports.

Asked at the White House whether he believed the conflict was worth it, Trump responded: “I do. Yeah. I mean, well, you have no choice.”

“The Iran thing we had to do, and we continue to do it,” he added.

Asked about Vice President JD Vance’s suggestion that the war in Iran contributed to Republican losses, Trump agreed, acknowledging that the conflict had pushed gasoline prices higher in the short term.

“Well, I think it’s largely true because it drove the gasoline up,” he said.

However, he defended the decision to launch and continue the military campaign, arguing that it was necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

“At the same time, if I had to do it 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.

Earlier Wednesday, Vance blamed the war with Iran for Republicans’ defeat in the midterm elections, saying voter anger over the conflict drove former Donald Trump supporters to back Democrats.

“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote in a statement on US social media platform X.

Trump said Vance’s lenghty post was “good.”

“I can tell you that as far as that war is concerned, I would have done nothing different,” Trump said.

Trump reiterated that if he was on the ballot, the Republicans “would have won.”

“But they just, you couldn’t transfer that love. There was such love at those rallies, it was incredible and we weren’t able to transfer the love to candidates,” he added.