President Donald Trump said voters were unwilling to pay higher gasoline prices that shot up because of the Iran war, as Democrats swept the midterms on Tuesday.
“I don’t think it’s the war, I think it’s the gas prices,” Trump said on a phone call with Fox News as he reflected on the results. “People agree with what I’m doing in Iran, but they really, probably weren’t willing to do the short-term consequence of paying more for gasoline.”
“And you know, I understand that,” he continued. “I don’t agree with it, and I would say to people, you know: ‘It’s a short-term problem but for long-term gain.”
The president congratulated the Democratic congressional leaders and said he would accept the results. Democrats have won the majority in both the House and Senate, meaning Trump would have to face a fully opposition-controlled Congress.
“I don’t like to consider it a defeat for me, I wasn’t on the ballot,” said Trump, adding that he felt “badly for a lot of very good Republicans, a lot of very good patriots that lost tonight.”
Fuel costs have surged since February, when the US and Israel began launching airstrikes on Iran, after which Iran began mining and attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The disruptions to the strait, through which 20 to 25% of the world’s seaborne oil previously flowed, have constrained global supply and sent energy prices soaring worldwide.
Regular gas prices in the US are now about 36% higher on average, or about $1 higher per gallon, compared to a year ago, per AAA’s Fuel Price Tracker on November 3.
Some states saw far higher jumps. In Michigan, where Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed leads Republican incumbent Sen. Mike Rogers, gas prices have jumped 52% compared to a year ago.
Diesel prices, meanwhile, have risen about 70% on average in the US, reaching record highs this fall in all but three states.
The White House has said that it expects oil prices to drop significantly once the war in the Middle East ends.
Though hostilities have largely toned down since the beginning of the war and both sides have repeatedly tried to broker ceasefires, the fighting continues on a limited scale.
Several media outlets reported that the US had carried out an unpublicized campaign of several small-scale strikes on Qeshm, an island in the Strait of Hormuz, in the last few weeks.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the strikes, which included one attack on Monday.
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