Trump Claims Iran War Will End ‘Right After The Midterms’

Donald Trump said “everything’s going to work out fine and dandy” after an attack on a Saudi-operated oil pipeline, then gave a rather convenient answer after being asked when his costly Iran war might finally come to an end.

The US president insisted the conflict, which is now in its sixth month, would reach a conclusion “probably right after” America’s midterm elections in November.

Israel and the US launched the war at the end of February, with Trump at the time claiming it would only last around six weeks.

Asked on a visit to Dublin when it might end, he said: “I think very soon. I think it’ll be probably right after the midterms.

“They’re trying to hold out as long as they can, to complicate the election, but I think people are wise to it because Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. It’s very simple.”

Trump took questions alongside Irish prime minister Micheál Martin during his two-day visit, repeating the decades-old talking point from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Iran was “weeks” or “months” away from having a nuclear bomb.

“And they would have probably hit us too, before we put out the fire,” Trump claimed Saturday. “But they cannot have a nuclear weapon. But I would say [the war will end] shortly. And oil will come tumbling down when that happens; oil prices will come tumbling down.”

Trump’s claim that the war will end shortly after the midterms arrives amid disastrous approval ratings, largely due to his handling of the economy and unpopular Middle East conflict.

He has given several contradictory reasons for launching the war and appears to have achieved none of the core goals he set earlier this year. As a result, energy and food prices have spiked as Iran responded to US strikes by closing the economically-vital Strait of Hormuz.

The conflict escalated on Thursday after a major oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia — a US ally — was shut down following drone attacks launched from Iraq. Trump, who baselessly claimed Iran was responsible, tried to reassure the public.

“I have made a call with [Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman],” he said. “He’s a good friend of mine, and it’s going to — I can just say everything’s going to work out fine and dandy. It’s going to be very good.”

The Iran war has already cost at least 18 US military service members and more than 3,000 Iranians their lives.

Some Republicans have distanced themselves from Trump, who is making the midterms a referendum on his supposed successes — despite his plummeting popularity.