Democrats take Congress with promise to end Iran war, but US builds fleet in Arabian Sea
Oil dropped 9% after Tuesday's midterms, yet a third carrier group is arriving as Trump says he would fight the war again.
By Harvey Wilson ·
Democrats won a sweeping victory in the 2026 midterm elections on Tuesday, seizing 54 seats in the Senate and 237 in the House.
The result shifts the balance of power in Washington just as the United States prepares for potential escalation in the Middle East.
Oil prices fell by 9 percent on Wednesday following the election results.
Merissa Khurma, founder and CEO of Amena Strategies, told Middle East Eye that the new congressional majority could constrain President Donald Trump.
This all depends on how elected members in the House and Senate work together to ensure a change of course with Iran and what Trump is told by his advisors, Khurma said.
She added that it matters how Democrats work with Republicans willing to cooperate on stopping further escalation.
President Trump acknowledged the conflict's impact on his party's performance.
It is largely true that the Iran war and high fuel prices tied to the conflict led to the party's historic defeat, he said on Wednesday.
Vice President JD Vance was more blunt, stating the reason for the loss was the war and the administration's ties to Israel.
Donald Trump Jr, who opposes the war, posted his support for Vance's analysis on X.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer placed the conflict at the center of his party's agenda.
We are going to end the war, Schumer said on Wednesday, noting that Republicans have already joined the effort to stop the conflict using the power of the purse to deter a president who does war without the consent of the American people, he added in a statement to the press. The US military presence in the region continues to grow despite the market shift. The United States currently operates two aircraft carrier groups and an amphibious assault ship in the Arabian Sea. A third aircraft carrier group is arriving in the region. Iranian officials reacted to the US election outcome with public praise for their strategic position. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, posted on X that the Iranian nation handed Trump a strategic defeat on the battlefield and in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as a political defeat in Washington. Trump expressed no hesitation about resuming military action. I can tell you that as far as that war is concerned, I would have done nothing different, he said. Alan Eyre, a former senior State Department expert on Iran at the Middle East Institute, argued that the election changes little for the near term. The new Congress will not be seated until January, and even then it is questionable how much real ability they will have to constrain the president, so I don't think it changes much, Eyre said. He added that if anything, Trump is now freed up for another round of strikes.
