President Donald Trump said energy prices that have been elevated due to the Iran war will not come down until after the midterm elections, which are nearly two months away.

“Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews before heading to Texas for the Republican Party’s midterm convention.

He had been asked how he plans to explain to Americans why oil prices have just soared to highs not seen since the early weeks of the war. Global benchmark Brent crude futures on Wednesday traded above $101 per barrel for the first time since July, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures surpassed $96 per barrel at session highs.

“I think it’s very easy to explain to America,” Trump said. “All you have to do is say, ‘Will you let Iran have a nuclear weapon?’ And the answer is no.”

Trump also insisted that the war against Iran, now in its seventh month with no clear resolution in sight, will end “immediately after the election.”

“They can’t hold out any longer,” said Trump, who has repeatedly claimed victory in the ongoing war, when asked to explain his prediction.

But he then suggested that Iran seeks to benefit from an election outcome unfavorable to Trump.

″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,” the president said.

The comments amount to a rare acknowledgement from Trump that neither the war, nor the higher prices it has generated, are likely to end in the near future.

They also underscore how the protracted conflict continues to weigh down Trump and the GOP in an election cycle that has been dominated by concerns about inflation and affordability.

Trump has claimed dozens of times throughout the war that a peace deal with Tehran is nearly at hand, only for none to emerge. But he lately appears to have given up on the prospect of a diplomatic victory, in favor of defeating Iran by destroying its military and starving its economy.

The U.S. military said Tuesday its forces have destroyed 10 Iranian tankers in the last week, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has taken credit for destroying oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.

“I would say that the attacks are caused by us,” Trump said, adding, “you’re going to see a lot more.”

Trump also claimed Wednesday that record-breaking gas prices will fall below $2 per gallon, but not until after the early November midterms — suggesting relief was still at least eight weeks away.

“I think it’s going to take a little bit longer than the midterm,” he said.

The remark slightly tempers Trump’s recent assurance on Truth Social that oil prices “will drop precipitously” when the U.S. wins the war. “It will all happen quickly,” he wrote.

But fuel analyst Patrick De Haan of GasBuddy said he is still skeptical of Trump’s latest prediction that oil and gas prices will fall after the midterms.

“I don’t see any guarantees at all of that happening,” De Haan said on X.

Source: CNBC