President Donald Trump on Wednesday predicted the conflict with Iran will come to a conclusion as soon as the U.S. midterm elections take place.
“I think the war will end immediately after the election,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on his way to the Republican National Convention in Dallas.
When asked why, the president responded: “Because they can’t hold out any longer. They’re desperate to try and affect the election so that we can get a nice weak group of people in there and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapon.”
“All they want is a nuclear weapon. And if they had a nuclear weapon, the whole world is in deep trouble.”
Asked about the prospects for a nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic, Trump explained: “I’m doing much more than a nuclear deal.”
“There’s gonna be a lot of other things on the table that wouldn’t have been on the table three months ago.”
WATCH:
🚨 NOW: President Trump announces the war in Iran will end immediately AFTER the 2026 midterms, saying Iran’s whole game plan was to use the election as leverage
“The war’s gonna end immediately after the election. Because they can’t hold out any longer! They’re desperate to try… pic.twitter.com/Lm5yw7BB6w
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 9, 2026
Retired U.S. Gen. Charles Wald, former deputy commander of U.S. European Command, told Martha MacCallum of Fox News that the president is “not going to give up” after the midterms.
“It’s just a matter of time. The Iranian economy is so bad right now and the Iranian military has been so degraded that they’re hanging on by a thread.”
On Tuesday, Sept. 8, U.S. Central Command announced it had destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, targeted a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days.
The U.S. warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and continued to patrol regional waters. No American personnel were harmed.
CENTCOM forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers, Sept. 8, after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days. The U.S. warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and… pic.twitter.com/Gi8a2tloN1
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) September 8, 2026
U.S. military officials said: “In response to Iran’s most recent failed attacks, CENTCOM destroyed the IRGC crude oil carriers M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1, and M/T Riesco in the Gulf of Oman as well as M/T Derya near Kharg Island. American forces directed the crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable.
“Iran has used the tankers as part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies. Iran has no means by which to defend these vessels.
“On Sept. 5, CENTCOM forces destroyed three Iranian crude oil carriers after the IRGC tried to attack a U.S. aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer. All IRGC attempts against U.S. Navy warships have failed.”
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