OMM Newsroom
US President Donald Trump said opposition to the war with Iran, rising gasoline prices and what he described as a “great dislike” for Israel were among the primary reasons Republicans suffered sweeping losses in last week’s midterm elections.
In an interview with “CBS News” programme “60 Minutes”, Trump acknowledged that the war had hurt Republicans politically, particularly as gasoline prices rose, Anadolu Agency reported.
“They didn’t like the war. They didn’t like the fact that gasoline went up,” he said.
“There’s a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel. There seems to be a dislike for Israel. So you have that, you have the war itself, you have the gas prices, and I think those are the primary reasons,” he added.
Although he acknowledged the war’s political costs, Trump defended his decision to attack Iran and said he would make the same choice again.
“My answer is an emphatic yes because you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
Trump claimed the US had won the war and said Tehran was interested in reaching an agreement.
“We would have had a deal except for this election,” he said, suggesting the Democratic victory had complicated negotiations.
Asked whether he intended to escalate the conflict after the elections, Trump said he was not seeking further escalation.
“I’m not looking to. I don’t think there’s any reason to,” he said.
He also repeated his claim that Israel would not exist without US military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Democrats secured control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in Tuesday’s elections, dealing a major setback to Trump’s administration.
