A growing number of Hill Republicans are frustrated with President Donald Trump’s ever-changing strategy in Iran, which they fear will cost them their majority in the fall. Trump’s latest threat to seize a key Iranian oil hub has drawn sharp warnings from his party, with several key Republicans expressing deep discomfort with the president’s threat to deepen the conflict without a clear strategy.

Concerns Over Economic Toll

With gas prices and inflation spiking, Republicans are worried that the war will become the defining issue of an already-tough midterm election. “I think people are really feeling it,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican. “It’s not just gas prices, food prices, and other things, and I think there’s a level of frustration. … So I think the pressure is for the president to reach a peace solution and move on.”

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a centrist from New Jersey, stressed that he supports the ultimate goal of defanging Iran’s nuclear powers, but added, “Get it done. Get out. We need an exit strategy.” Angst over the war has been spiking for weeks among Hill Republicans, with a growing chorus of lawmakers warning about the economic toll of the Iran war and calling for a swift end to the conflict.

Party Leaders’ Concerns

Even GOP lawmakers who strongly support the war have publicly and privately acknowledged their party has mishandled messaging around the issue. “It needed to happen even if it costs us our majority. And it might,” one lawmaker told CNN, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the fraught politics of the war. Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor in Alabama, acknowledged that “everybody is having problems” with inflation, and stressed that the party can’t make decisions based on potential political fallout.

Any political fallout, however, remains a concern for a number of Republicans, including Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, who argued that “people often vote their pocketbook. … If people don’t feel secure financially, they oftentimes obviously respond by choosing somebody else.”

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.