AP Analysis: After two weeks of war with Iran, Trump has reversed his policy stance

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — In the past two weeks since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, President Donald Trump has been increasingly politically hammered.

He has become increasingly agitated with news coverage, failing to find a way to explain why he started the war — or how he would end it — that resonates with a public wary of American deaths in the conflict, rising oil prices and declining financial markets. Even some of his supporters are skeptical of his plan, and his overall poll numbers are declining.

Meanwhile, Moscow is getting a boost from the early days of the war after Trump eased sanctions on some Russian oil shipments. This, along with rising oil prices, has undermined years-long efforts to undermine President Vladimir Putin’s ability to wage war in Ukraine.

He watches: Asked what the United States should do to end the war with Iran, Trump said “more of the same.”

Then there are the Democrats, left reeling after Trump won the 2024 election. With control of Congress at risk in November’s midterm elections, the party has come together to oppose Trump’s Iran policy, and has pointed to the economic turmoil as evidence that Republicans have not kept their promises to cut everyday costs.

“I think Democrats are in a good position for next November and the midterms,” said Kelly Dietrich, CEO of the National Democratic Training Committee, which trains party supporters on running for office and campaigning for staff.

Dietrich said the past two weeks show that the Trump administration has failed in long-term planning. “They are flying at full speed, and the rest of us are paying the price,” he said.

Trump seeks to help secure the Strait of Hormuz

The president used the weekend to spend hours at his private golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. He also attended a closed-door fundraiser for MAGA Inc. super PAC at his home in Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night.

Last weekend, Trump played golf at another of his properties in South Florida, a day after he watched the dignified transfer of six American soldiers killed in the Iran war. The death toll rose last week.

Trump has increasingly complained about media coverage of the conflict, writing on Saturday: “The media actually wants us to lose the war.” His broadcast regulator then threatened to withdraw broadcasting licenses unless he “corrected course”.

The president — who has kept allies other than Israel in the dark about his war plans against Iran — also signaled for the first time that the United States would need to rely on the international community to help oil tankers move through the Strait of Hormuz, where transportation has been severely disrupted, leading to a collapse in global energy markets.

Iran said it plans to continue attacks on energy infrastructure and use its physical closure of the Strait as leverage against the United States and Israel. A fifth of the world’s traded oil flows through the waterway.

Read more: A new poll shows that a majority of Americans oppose military action in Iran

“Many countries, especially those affected by Iran’s attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz, will be sending warships, in cooperation with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe,” Trump wrote on Saturday, later adding: “This should always have been a team effort.”

It was not clear whether this multilateralism campaign was scheduled to begin or if Trump was only hoping it would begin. This is because he also wrote: “I hope that China, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and other affected countries” will send ships to the region so that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer threatened by Iran.

The White House did not provide further details about what Trump’s post meant, but other countries have only reacted cautiously to it so far.

South Korea intends to “closely coordinate and carefully review” Trump’s comments, while Japan is closely monitoring developments. The British Ministry of Defense said it was “discussing with our allies and partners a range of options to ensure the security of shipping in the region.”

A Chinese Embassy spokesman in Washington said that keeping the Strait “safe and stable serves the common interests of the international community” and that China “as a sincere friend and strategic partner of Middle Eastern countries, will continue to strengthen communications with relevant parties.”

Trump had pledged at the beginning of the war that US naval ships would escort tankers through the waterway. But that hasn’t happened yet. “It will happen soon,” he said before boarding Air Force One heading to Florida. “Very soon.”

However, questions about the Strait continue to undermine Trump’s recent statement during a rally in Kentucky: “We won.”

“You know, you never like to say too soon that you won. We won,” he said. “We won, in the first hour, it was over.”

The war has far-reaching political effects

Last week, the US Treasury Department announced a 30-day exemption from Russian sanctions with the aim of freeing Russian oil shipments stuck at sea to help alleviate supply shortages resulting from the Iranian war.

This is despite analysts saying that the rise in oil prices due to the halt in production in the Persian Gulf benefits the Russian economy. Moscow relies heavily on oil revenues to finance its war on Ukraine, and sanctions have been an increasing obstacle.

Some of Washington’s key allies have criticized the move as enabling Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described easing sanctions as “not the right decision” and “certainly does not help peace” because it leads to “strengthening Russia’s position.”

As the midterm races began to heat up, Trump was asked Friday night about his message to voters who think gas is expensive.

Read more: Americans, divided on many issues, find unity in frustration over rising gas prices

“You’re going to see a very big drop in the prices of gasoline and gas and anything that has to do with energy once this is over,” Trump said.

However, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday about rising energy prices that “Americans are feeling it now” and will feel it “for a few more weeks.”

The longer the conflict continues, the clearer the questions become about the midterm elections. Recently, Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, suggested on Fox Business Channel’s “Mornings with Maria” that if gas and oil prices continue to rise, “we will see a disastrous election” for the Republican Party.

Iran has even divided Trump’s “Make America Great Again” base, between those who support the measure and others who say Trump has explicitly campaigned on ending wars.

Prominent figures on the right, including Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, have harshly criticized Trump. However, Trump continued to insist that he created the MAGA movement and that it would follow him anywhere and on any issue.

The political turmoil has led some Democrats to expect their party to make midterm gains that rival the 2018 “blue wave” elections during Trump’s first term.

“Democrats just have to keep reminding people that he promised to lower prices, and they’re still going up,” Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said of Trump. “And now it will go up even more because gasoline prices could increase the prices of everything else, including at the grocery store.”