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U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged Wednesday that the Iran war was partly to blame for widespread Republican losses in the midterm elections, but said he did not regret launching it.
"Iran was a piece of it," Trump told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in a phone interview when asked whether the war contributed to Republicans’ poor showing. "I don’t think about it. I did the right thing. I would have done it again."
Democrats are preparing to take control of both the House and the Senate.
Trump said he believed rising oil prices, rather than the war itself, were the biggest political liability.
Trump said the war in Iran had weighed on Republican candidates, even as voters backed his handling of it. "I think a part of it was Iran, but at the same time people understood the importance of what I've done with Iran," he said.
"I don't think it's the war, I think it's the gas prices. People agree with what I'm doing on 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. I don't agree with it and I would say to people, it's a short term problem but for long term gain," Trump told Fox News.
"I am totally convinced that my decision on Iran for the long-term good of our country and even the world was an absolutely correct one," he told Politico’s Dasha Burns.
Some White House officials and Republican allies called the war misguided and said the elections would have looked very different had the conflict ended months ago, the WSJ reported.
Some officials said Trump might consider changes to his team.
"It’ll end when I say it ends," Trump told CBS News of the war.
Asked whether tensions with Iran would escalate, Trump said Washington would assess and act if it saw "an opportunity." On claims he could use nuclear weapons, he said: "I don’t need it. We already destroyed them."
"I wasn’t on the ballot," Trump told Politico. "I said, ‘Say you’re on the ballot, think about me being on the ballot.’ But they didn’t agree and they didn’t like the candidates in most cases."
"We’re going to work with the Democrats to make sure things go well for our country," he said, adding, "We have the right to veto everything, but I don’t want to be just sitting there for two years vetoing everything."
Trump told Fox News that Democrats would send legislation he considered "insane" and that he would veto it.
The remarks came as Democrats were projected by U.S. media to win control of the Senate and appeared on course to secure a majority in the House of Representatives, threatening to constrain Trump's legislative agenda.
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