Two weeks into the U.S. and Israel strikes on Iran, President Donald Trump has increasingly confronted criticism not only about the military campaign but also about how he is explaining its political stakes at home, as Associated Press reported March 15 from aboard Air Force One. The article said Trump has grown more agitated with news coverage and has struggled to deliver a message about why the war started and how it would end that resonates with a public focused on American deaths in the conflict, rising oil prices and pressure in financial markets.
AP reported that even some of Trump’s supporters have questioned the plan and that the president’s overall poll numbers have been declining. In contrast, AP said Moscow received a boost early in the war after Trump eased sanctions on some Russian oil shipments—an adjustment that, along with higher oil prices, undercut an effort that had sought to limit President Vladimir Putin’s ability to finance the war in Ukraine.
On the political front, AP said Democrats—still reeling after Trump’s 2024 election—have been coalescing around a message aimed at the November midterms: that the Iran policy has brought economic turmoil and undermines Republican promises to lower everyday costs. Kelly Dietrich, CEO of the National Democratic Training Committee, told AP that “I think Democrats are well-positioned for this November and the midterms,” arguing that the past two weeks demonstrated the administration’s lack of long-term planning.
Dietrich said, “They’re flying by the seat of their pants, and the rest of us are paying the price,” according to AP. In the same reporting, the article said Trump let frustrations spill while traveling from a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, lashing out at allies and at other countries dependent on Middle Eastern oil and name-checking British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. AP reported Trump said Starmer initially declined to put British aircraft carriers “into harm’s way,” and that Trump told reporters, “Whether we get support or not,” adding, “I can say this, and I said to them: We will remember.”
AP said Trump spent much of the weekend at a golf club in West Palm Beach and also attended a closed-door fundraiser for his MAGA Inc. super PAC at Mar-a-Lago. The article said Trump played golf the prior weekend a day after he witnessed what AP described as a dignified transfer for six U.S. soldiers killed in the Iran war, and that a political action committee used a photo from the event in a fundraising email. AP reported Trump brushed off a question about whether it was appropriate, saying “there’s nobody that’s better to the military than me.”
The AP reporting said Trump and his White House have also stepped up complaints about media coverage of the conflict. On Saturday, AP said the president cheered on his broadcast regulator for threatening to pull broadcast licenses unless they “correct course,” and on Air Force One he told reporters that coverage of the war had been influenced by Iranian propaganda that exaggerated the military and political strength of Iran’s leaders and their support among the country’s people.
A second line of Trump’s messaging has focused on securing shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, where AP said transportation has been severely disrupted. AP reported that this weekend Trump began suggesting the U.S. would need to lean on the international community to help oil tankers move through the waterway and that Iran had said it plans to keep attacking energy infrastructure while using effective closure of the strait as leverage against the United States and Israel. AP reported that “a fifth of the world’s traded oil flows through the waterway,” and said Trump told reporters he was speaking with “about seven” countries about providing military support, without naming which ones.
AP reported that Trump said, “It’s something that we don’t need and these countries do need,” adding “I think it’s a good thing for other countries to come in.” He also singled out European allies in comments AP said suggested NATO support, saying, “We’re always there for NATO,” and, “It’d be interesting to see what country wouldn’t help us with a very small endeavor.” AP said Trump then told others to protect their own territory, saying, “Really I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory.”
Other governments reacted cautiously, AP reported. The article said South Korea planned to “closely coordinate and carefully review” Trump’s comments, while Japan said it was closely watching developments, and Britain’s defense ministry said it was “discussing with our allies and partners a range of options to ensure the security of shipping in the region.” AP also reported that a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said keeping the strait “safe and stable serves the common interests of the international community” and that China would “continue to strengthen communication with relevant parties,” and that Trump declined to say whether China would join.
AP said Trump had pledged at the beginning of the war that U.S. naval ships would escort tankers through the waterway, but that it had not happened yet. In the meantime, AP reported, questions about the strait continued to undermine Trump’s previous remarks, including a Kentucky rally pronouncement that “We’ve won.” In later comments, AP said Trump was asked about whether the U.S. should declare victory too early and replied, “You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won,” adding, “We won the, in the first hour, it was over.”
The AP story said the war’s political consequences have extended into the U.S. economy through energy costs and sanctions policy. The article said the U.S. Treasury Department announced a 30-day waiver on Russian sanctions aimed at freeing Russian oil cargoes stranded at sea to ease supply shortages tied to the Iran war. AP reported that analysts have said spiraling oil prices linked to Persian Gulf production blockages were benefiting Russia’s economy and that Moscow relies heavily on oil revenue to finance its war in Ukraine.
AP also said some U.S. allies criticized the sanctions waiver as empowering Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the easing “not the right decision,” AP reported, saying it “certainly does not help peace” because it leads to “strengthening of Russia’s position.” With midterm races heating up, AP said Trump was asked about how voters might react to rising gas prices and he told reporters, “Politically, sure, everybody has concern — I have to do what’s right,” and he added, “I can’t say that ‘Gee, I don’t want to have any impact on oil prices for three or four weeks, or two months, and we’re going to let Iran have a nuclear weapon.’”
AP further reported that Energy Secretary Chris Wright told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that higher energy prices were something “Americans are feeling it right now” and that it would continue “for a few more weeks.” The article said the conflict has also divided Trump’s Make America Great Again base between those who support the action and those who say Trump campaigned on ending wars.
Finally, AP reported that political turbulence has prompted some Democrats to predict the party could see midterm gains rivaling 2018’s “blue wave.” Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist, told AP that “Democrats just have to keep reminding people that he made a promise to bring prices down, and they’re still going up,” and that “And now they’re going to go up even more because prices in gasoline can increase prices of everything else, including at the grocery store.”