Trump keeps hinting he’ll resume the Iran war after the midterms. These Iowa GOP voters sound wary

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When Christine Brenden, an Iowa paralegal who staunchly supports President Donald Trump, went to fill her gas tank a year ago, it cost around $40.

Now, she said, the cost has jumped to $60. Standing in line to see Trump speak at an airport in Sioux City on Thursday, Brenden predicted fuel prices would only jump further if, as Trump has hinted, he resumes the war with Iran after November’s midterm elections.

“I bet it would skyrocket again,” she said.

As Trump embarks on a frenetic campaign blitz, hoping to rally base enthusiasm behind Republican candidates, he routinely teases that a decisive end to the war is just around the corner.

But in Iowa — where the GOP is trying to defend a Senate seat and several US House seats — the prospect of a new, intensive round of bombing received mostly negative reviews among the Republicans CNN spoke with, both those attending Trump’s event and those who decided to skip it.

“He started something, I don’t know how he’s going to finish it. I think it’s time for Israel, Saudi Arabia, some of the other countries to either jump in or jump out,” said Scott Rhinehart, a retired lawyer, outside the Sioux City post office. He said he was a loyal Republican, but wasn’t attending Trump’s rally.

By some measures, Iowa has been among the states hardest hit by the consequences of the Iran war. High gas and diesel prices have hurt the state’s farmers, making it more expensive to transport their products, and two service members who were from the state have died in the conflict.

The GOP Senate nominee, Rep. Ashley Hinson — who is set to appear with Trump Thursday night — has struck a delicate balance as she fights for a seat in a state Trump won by double digits two years ago. She voted against a House resolution, which two vulnerable Iowa GOP lawmakers backed, that would limit Trump’s powers to continue fighting the war. But Hinson’s been outspoken in calling the war too expensive and calling on Trump to bring it to a “successful and immediate end.”

The president has said he doesn’t intend to resume strikes against Iran before Election Day, mindful the war has proven deeply unpopular at home, including among many of his own supporters.

“Well in one way, they love it because I’m doing what should have been done by other presidents, and another way maybe they don’t. It’s — there’s a price to pay, which I knew immediately when I did it, but we can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said Thursday while departing the White House for Iowa.

“This should have been done a long time ago by other presidents. The Iran war — and we’ve knocked the hell out of them, and we may do it a little bit further,” he added.

Behind the scenes, advisers have drawn up plans for renewed strikes in coordination with Israel that could be executed as soon as Trump gives the go-ahead.

Targets include nuclear sites, energy facilities and Iran’s remaining missile and drone arsenal, according to US officials, who described a potential renewal of the conflict as short but intense.

One option under active consideration, according to officials: using the so-called “mother of all bombs,” the largest non-nuclear ordnance in the US arsenal, to target Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites.

There is no guarantee Trump will approve new strikes, and he has previously backed off when he seemed close to ordering a new onslaught. But crisscrossing the country this month, he has strongly suggested to rally audiences they should expect decisive action in the near term.

The hint of further action wasn’t sitting well in this heavily agricultural state, with less than two weeks to go until the midterms.

Peyton Webster, a 22-year-old agriculture student attending the rally with a friend, said she wouldn’t welcome another round of bombing because of the toll it would take on farmers. She said farm policy was her number one issue as a voter.

“It would probably just keep (gas prices) up higher, and that’s especially just hard on smaller family units when it’s tight as it is, so that wouldn’t help,” she said. “I like us putting our efforts toward our country and improving the lives of our citizens, and then going and involving in foreign affairs.”

The costs of the war here have been more than just economic. Two soldiers from Iowa — Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, from Indianola, and Sgt. Declan Coady, from West Des Moines — were killed at the start of the conflict when an Iranian drone struck a tactical operations center in Kuwait. Both were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, based in Des Moines.

Reflecting the pressure many in Trump’s party face because of the war, two Iowa Republicans, Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks , voted last month for the war powers resolution in the House.

Hinson — who promised in the Oval Office last month to bring a pork chop to Trump if he campaigned in Iowa — has taken a more measured tone even as she’s sought some distance from the president.

“Successful end, to me, means we have to have assurances that there will never be a nuclear program in Iran,” Hinson said during a debate on Tuesday with Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek, with whom she’s locked in a neck-and-neck race.

“I trust the US military to achieve that objective, whatever that looks like. I’ve met with our generals, had those conversations, but I’ve also met with the families.”

“I don’t want to see that happen to another family,” she went on, “and nobody wants a forever war.”

Outside the airplane hangar where Hinson and the president were set to speak, however, even ardent Trump supporters sounded somewhat skeptical that renewing the war would be worthwhile.

“It feels like it’s run longer than I kind of expected it to,” said Brandon Jorgensen, a 41-year-old pastor. “When we first got in, I felt like the language was very much, so like this is going to be quick. Like we’re going to come in, show a lot of force, and come through a quick end. And that hasn’t been really what I’ve seen.”

Les Cleveringa, a business owner, was less dubious.

“Costs are higher, but a nuclear war is a lot more expensive,” he said. “I’m not sure it’ll affect prices, but I think it might bring an end to the war.”

Alex Wong/Getty Images

一年前，坚定支持唐纳德·特朗普总统的爱荷华州律师助理克里斯汀·布伦登去加油时，花了大约 40 美元。

她说，现在油价已经涨到了每加仑60美元。周四，布伦丹在苏城机场排队等候特朗普发表讲话时预测，如果特朗普像他暗示的那样，在11月中期选举后恢复与伊朗的战争，那么油价只会进一步上涨。

“我敢打赌它还会再次飙升，”她说。

特朗普正展开一场疯狂的竞选闪电战，希望以此激发共和党候选人的基本盘热情，他经常暗示战争的决定性结束即将到来。

但在爱荷华州——共和党正试图保住一个参议院席位和几个美国众议院席位——对于可能再次爆发新一轮密集轰炸的前景，CNN采访的共和党人，无论是参加特朗普活动的共和党人还是决定不参加的共和党人，都大多持负面态度。

“他开了个头，我不知道他会怎么收尾。我认为以色列、沙特阿拉伯和其他一些国家是时候要么加入，要么退出了。”退休律师斯科特·莱因哈特在苏城邮局外说道。他表示自己是忠实的共和党人，但不会参加特朗普的集会。

从某些方面来看，爱荷华州是受伊朗战争后果影响最严重的州之一。高昂的汽油和柴油价格损害了该州农民的利益，增加了农产品运输成本；此外，还有两名来自该州的军人在冲突中阵亡。

共和党参议员候选人、众议员阿什利·欣森（Ashley Hinson）将于周四晚与特朗普一同亮相。她正努力在两党之间寻求微妙的平衡，力图在两年前特朗普以两位数优势赢得的州赢得一个席位。她投票反对一项众议院决议，该决议得到了两位处境岌岌可危的爱荷华州共和党议员的支持，旨在限制特朗普继续发动战争的权力。但欣森一直直言不讳地称这场战争耗资巨大，并呼吁特朗普“迅速而成功地结束”这场战争。

总统表示，他不打算在大选日之前恢复对伊朗的打击，因为他意识到这场战争在国内，包括他自己的许多支持者中，都非常不受欢迎。

“一方面，他们喜欢我这么做，因为我做了其他总统本该做的事；另一方面，他们可能并不喜欢。这样做是有代价的，我一开始就知道，但我们不能让伊朗拥有核武器，”特朗普周四离开白宫前往爱荷华州时说道。

“其他总统早就应该这么做了。伊朗战争——我们已经狠狠打击了他们，而且我们可能还会更进一步，”他补充道。

幕后，顾问们已经制定了与以色列协调发动新一轮袭击的计划，一旦特朗普批准，这些计划就可以立即执行。

据美国官员称，打击目标包括核设施、能源设施以及伊朗剩余的导弹和无人机武库。他们形容，冲突可能再次爆发，但持续时间会很短，强度会很大。

据官员透露，目前正在积极考虑的一个方案是：使用所谓的“炸弹之母”（美国武库中最大的非核弹药）来打击伊朗的能源基础设施和核设施。

特朗普是否会批准新的空袭尚无定论，而且他此前也曾在看似即将下令发动新一轮攻击时退缩过。但本月他在全国各地奔走，强烈暗示民众应该预料到近期会采取果断行动。

在这个农业大州，距离中期选举不到两周，任何进一步行动的迹象都令人不安。

22岁的农业专业学生佩顿·韦伯斯特和朋友一起参加了集会。她说，她不希望再次发生轰炸事件，因为这会给农民带来沉重打击。她表示，农业政策是她作为选民最关心的问题。

“这很可能只会让油价居高不下，对本就捉襟见肘的小家庭来说尤其如此，所以这样做无济于事，”她说。“我希望我们把精力放在国家建设和改善国民生活上，然后再去参与外交事务。”

这场战争的代价远不止经济损失。两名来自爱荷华州的士兵——来自印第安纳波利斯的杰弗里·奥布莱恩少校和来自西得梅因的德克兰·科迪中士——在冲突初期不幸丧生，当时一架伊朗无人机袭击了位于科威特的一个战术作战中心。两人都隶属于驻扎在得梅因的第103后勤保障司令部。

由于战争，特朗普党内许多人面临着巨大的压力，这反映出爱荷华州的两名共和党众议员扎克·纳恩和玛丽安内特·米勒-米克斯上个月在众议院投票支持了战争权力决议。

上个月在椭圆形办公室承诺，如果特朗普在爱荷华州竞选，她将带一块猪排给他的欣森，尽管她一直在寻求与总统保持一定距离，但她的语气却变得更加谨慎。

“对我来说，成功结束意味着我们必须得到保证，伊朗永远不会有核计划，”欣森在周二与民主党州众议员乔什·图雷克的辩论中说道，两人目前选情胶着。

“我相信美国军方能够实现这个目标，无论最终结果如何。我与我们的将军们会面，进行过相关的对话，我也与遇难者家属们进行了交流。”

“我不希望看到这样的事情发生在其他家庭身上，”她继续说道，“而且没有人希望战争永无止境。”

然而，在辛森和总统即将发表讲话的飞机库外，即使是特朗普的铁杆支持者也对重新开战是否值得表示怀疑。

“感觉比我预想的要长，”41岁的牧师布兰登·乔根森说。“刚开始的时候，我觉得大家都在说，这场比赛会很快结束。好像我们会强势出击，迅速结束比赛。但实际情况并非如此。”

企业主莱斯·克莱弗林加则不那么怀疑。

“成本虽然更高，但核战争的代价要高得多，”他说。“我不确定这是否会影响物价，但我认为这或许能结束战争。”