President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the Iran war will end when he decides, while fielding questions from the White House press corps for the first time since Democrats’ resounding midterm election victories.
A reporter asked Trump when he thinks the war will end during a press conference at the White House ballroom construction site, where the last piece of steel was installed in the afternoon.
Q: So when do you think the war will end?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 4, 2026
TRUMP: Whenever I want it to pic.twitter.com/qwSRXiv8Wg
“Whenever I want it to, but it’s gotta be done right, and we’re never going to let them have a nuclear weapon,” the president said.
He agreed with Vice President JD Vance’s assessment that Republicans lost the midterm election because of the Iran war.
“Well, I think it’s largely true, because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short-term, and… probably it’s true,” Trump said when asked about Vance’s comments.
“But at the same time, if I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again, because long term it’s the only answer. You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” he added.
When asked if he felt like it was “worth it to lose the Senate” over the war, he said, “I do,” and “You have no choice.”
“I mean, I thought the oil would go up a lot more, and I did it on that basis. You have no choice. You have to do it. You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon, or everything that you see here someday might not exist,” he added.
A CNN exit poll found that high gas prices and the Iran war factored into most voters’ decisions on Tuesday.
As polls come to a close in some states, CNN's Political Director David Chalian takes a look at how President Trump’s economic policies and the war in Iran are affecting the electorate. 87% of voters polled saying they are concerned with the cost of gas and the majority of voters… pic.twitter.com/R4eTnPTTK9
— CNN (@CNN) November 3, 2026
Of the people CNN surveyed, 87 percent said they were concerned about the cost of gas, with 59 percent being “very concerned” and 28 percent being “somewhat concerned.”
When asked how important the war in Iran was to their vote, 34 percent said it was a “crucial” factor and another 40 percent said it was “a major factor.”
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