WASHINGTON, September 16 — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he does not believe the war with Iran will end until after November’s midterm elections, and that oil prices will not come down until then. “I think the war’s going to end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer,” Trump said of Iran’s leaders, according to the record of his remarks. He made the comments as he headed to Texas for the Republican Party’s first midterm election convention, and repeated them there.
The conflict is now in its seventh month. It began when the US and Israel attacked Iran in February, and it spread rapidly across the Middle East as Iran retaliated by launching missiles and drones at Israel and at Arab states hosting US military facilities.
Oil Above $100 Three Times in Six Months
The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, has risen above the $100 (£74) mark three times over the past six months. Iranian attacks have forced production stoppages in Gulf states and disrupted exports through the Strait of Hormuz. The US has imposed a naval blockade on Iran’s ports and has recently begun striking Iranian tankers in response to attacks on warships and other vessels.
On Tuesday night, the US military said it had attacked and destroyed five oil tankers with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Gulf of Oman and the northern Gulf. The IRGC said early Wednesday that its naval forces had attacked two US Navy destroyers and eight oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, causing “heavy damage” to the vessels.
Centcom denied its warships were hit. The IRGC also said it had launched ballistic missiles at US military maintenance facilities, hangars and aircraft at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. Jordan’s armed forces said they intercepted 20 Iranian missiles and that two other missiles fell in unpopulated areas with no casualties reported.
Later Wednesday, sources told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that several US fighter jets at the air base were damaged in the Iranian strikes. One A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft was hit and was missing a wing, and about eight F-15s sustained light damage, according to people familiar with the matter.
Explosions were reported in southern Iran on Wednesday night, but Iranian official sources denied they were US strikes, saying the sounds came from the sea.
Houthi Attacks on Saudi Oil Facilities
In a separate development on Tuesday, the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen launched a wave of missile and drone attacks on south-western Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, causing fires at several oil facilities. Saudi media reported more Houthi attacks on the kingdom Wednesday, citing a military spokesman as condemning missile and drone strikes on the cities of Khamis Mushait, Abha and Jazan.
The Houthis have said they are retaliating for days of Saudi air strikes on their territory in western Yemen, where a four-year-old informal ceasefire had been in place. Trump is facing falling polling numbers and pressure from within his party to end the war.
Midterm elections will be held on 3 November, and Republicans are in danger of losing control of Congress. Historically, a sitting president’s party tends to lose seats in Congress in the midterm elections. At the convention in Texas, Trump sought to energise the party ahead of November, arguing that short-term economic pain was worth it to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
What to watch next: whether the fighting in the Middle East continues to intensify as oil facilities throughout the region come under attack, and whether pressure from within Trump’s own party forces a change in the US approach before voters go to the polls on 3 November.
