Trump blames GOP midterm defeat on the Iran war - Semafor

US President Donald Trump conceded the Iran war was the defining issue that drove a Republican pummeling in midterm elections, though analysts were skeptical that any long-term truce was on the horizon. Oil prices fell for a fourth successive day, with the international benchmark dropping to nearly $93 a barrel on traders’ bets that Democrats’ sweeping victories reduced the risk of escalation between Washington and Tehran.

Yet Trump nevertheless insisted that “if I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again,” and one leading expert said the oil selloff “has been somewhat baffling,” arguing that “the risk of escalation structurally grows post midterms, and the outcome (a Dem victory) has been the base case for months.”