SIOUX CITY, Iowa — President Donald Trump told supporters in Iowa on Thursday night that the war with Iran could be finished “very soon” and could resume after the midterm elections, while urging Republican voters to turn out as if his own name were on the ballot, according to CNN and the Des Moines Register.
“We’re going to have Iran finished very soon. One way or the other — it’s almost insignificant to me which way — but one way or the other, it’s going to be done very soon, and your gasoline prices and your oil is going to come tumbling down,” Trump said in Sioux City, according to CNN. Earlier, departing the White House, he said the United States had “knocked the hell out of them, and we may do it a little bit further,” while adding that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.
The rally, held at Sioux Gateway Airport less than two weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, was aimed at Iowa’s top Republican candidates, including Senate nominee Ashley Hinson and gubernatorial nominee Zach Lahn. “I’m asking you to pretend I’m running,” Trump told the crowd. “Pretend I’m on the ballot,” according to the Des Moines Register. He also boasted about immigration enforcement and falling violent crime, and announced that his administration would use the Defense Production Act to release $150 million to expand domestic diesel and gasoline refining capacity, a step Energy Secretary Chris Wright said would be used with private industry to bolster existing energy infrastructure.
The Iran remarks landed differently in Iowa than they might have in Washington. CNN reported that high gas and diesel prices have hurt the state’s farmers, making it more expensive to move their products, and that two service members from Iowa have died in the conflict. Hinson, who is fighting for a Senate seat in a state Trump won by double digits in 2024, voted against a House resolution that would have limited Trump’s power to continue the war, but has also called the war too expensive and urged the president to bring it to a “successful and immediate end,” according to CNN.
Behind the public remarks, U.S. officials told CNN that advisers have drawn up plans for renewed strikes in coordination with Israel that could be carried out if Trump gives the order, with targets including nuclear sites, energy facilities and Iran’s remaining missile and drone arsenal. One option under consideration, according to those officials, involves the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal. Zark News has not independently verified those planning details, which CNN attributed to U.S. officials.
Why it matters: Iowa is not supposed to be difficult ground for Republicans — Trump carried it by 13 points in 2024 — yet the party is defending competitive races for governor, the Senate and three House seats, and Democrats see pickup opportunities in each. Trump’s swing through Iowa, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky in the final weeks reflects a campaign working to hold its base in states it once won by wide margins. What happens next depends first on November 3, and then on whether the president’s warning on Iran becomes policy after the votes are counted.
Read the original reporting in CNN and the Des Moines Register.
