Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed reported Iranian hopes of a Democratic victory in the midterm elections, saying they come from a “misreading” of the U.S. political system.
Ever since the beginning of Operation Epic Fury, analysts have accused Tehran of focusing on maximizing the political and economic costs for President Donald Trump, aiming to hold out until a hypothetical Democratic victory in the 2026 midterm elections forces him to capitulate. When asked by reporters about Iranian hopes that the midterms would decide the war, Rubio dismissed them.
“Well, I think the Iranians misread our system. I think the Iranians are under this illusion that Democrats are going to win in November, and the president will no longer be able to do things against them. I just don’t think they understand our system very well. Other countries do, but they don’t seem to,” Rubio said.
The former senator said the legislative branch was a “very important” branch of government, but cited his 14 years of experience in the body for making him familiar with its limitations.
“I understand its powers, but I also understand its limitations when it comes to the national security of our country, when it comes to the imposition of both sanctions and the use of military force, the president has extraordinary powers,” he said.
“So, I think that the Iranians are fundamentally misreading our political system, and I think the president made it very clear yesterday. For him, the Iranian issue is not a political issue,” Rubio continued, saying that generations of Americans and countries across the world have been vehemently against a nuclear Iran.
Unlike previous generations, Trump decided to do “something about it, and it comes at a price and at a cost. There’s no doubt about it,” Rubio said. Despite the cost, Trump understood that “the cost of not doing something about it is substantially higher, especially for future generations.”
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Over half a year into the war with Iran, the continued volatility of the Strait of Hormuz continues to squeeze oil prices, a state of affairs made worse by Yemen’s Houthis seizing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The political and economic impact of the war is immeasurably higher in Iran, which is experiencing an economic collapse. Yet the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has held on to power with an iron fist. While much less severely felt by the U.S., the war has stripped Trump of much political capital, and fears of further economic disruptions have hamstrung the U.S. handling of the war.
Democrats have capitalized on the unpopularity of the war with Iran, frequently invoking it in campaigns and blaming it for the rising cost of living.