President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he expects the war with Iran to end shortly after the Nov. 3 midterm elections and predicted oil prices will then begin falling, as gasoline, diesel and crude prices remain elevated.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
President Donald Trump predicted Wednesday that the war with Iran will end shortly after the 2026 midterm elections, arguing that Tehran is trying to endure the conflict until the Nov. 3 vote while Americans continue facing sharply higher fuel prices.
Speaking with reporters before traveling to the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Trump said he expects oil prices to begin declining after Election Day.
“Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to take a little bit longer than the midterm.”
Trump accused Iran of attempting to influence the U.S. political environment by prolonging the conflict.
“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,” Trump said.
“I think the war’s going to end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer,” he added.
The president offered no specific diplomatic or military development supporting the timetable, making the statement a prediction rather than an announced agreement or ceasefire plan. The U.S.-Iran conflict is now in its seventh month, and renewed attacks around the Strait of Hormuz pushed Brent crude above $100 a barrel Wednesday.
The conflict has sharply disrupted petroleum shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of global petroleum moved before the war. Brent crude settled at $101.21 Wednesday after renewed attacks involving U.S. and Iranian vessels intensified concerns about global supplies.
American motorists are increasingly feeling the impact.
Regular gasoline averaged $4.15 per gallon nationally over Labor Day, compared with approximately $3.20 a year earlier. By Wednesday, the national average had climbed further to about $4.22 per gallon. Diesel reached approximately $5.94 per gallon, up sharply from year-ago levels.
U.S. consumers have paid an estimated $100 billion in additional gasoline and diesel expenses since the war began, equivalent to roughly $760 per household, according to a real-time estimate from Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs. The estimate continues rising as elevated energy prices persist.
The administration has taken several steps intended to increase fuel supplies and limit price increases. The Environmental Protection Agency last month accelerated the transition to winter-grade gasoline, allowing less restrictive federal volatility standards beginning Sept. 1 rather than waiting until the normal end of the summer fuel season.
The United States has also drawn from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. By early August, the reserve had fallen below 300 million barrels, more than 100 million barrels lower than at the beginning of 2026, according to reporting on the administration’s response to the war-driven supply disruptions.
Trump’s comments place the conflict’s potential end beyond the midterm elections even as fighting and oil-market disruptions continue. Vice President JD Vance last week declined to offer a similar timetable, saying he did not want to impose “artificial timelines” on the war and could not predict when Iran would stop its attacks.
For now, Trump is forecasting that both the military conflict and the pressure it has placed on energy markets will ease after November, while oil traders and consumers continue confronting prices driven by an unresolved war and instability around one of the world’s most important petroleum shipping routes.
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