U.S. President Donald Trump put himself and the Iran war at the centre of the Republican midterm campaign on Wednesday, rallying voters in Dallas with promises of cash payments and a prediction that the conflict would end after November’s elections.
Trump urged supporters at the Republican Party’s midterm convention to treat the elections as if his own name were on the ballot, while promising $5,000 payments if Republicans retain control of Congress.
Here are some of the key remarks from his speech.
Trump sought to put himself at the centre of the Republican midterm campaign, telling supporters to approach the November elections as if they were voting for him again.
“We’re running together,” Trump said. “This is the most important election of your lives.”
The president urged Republicans to defy the historical tendency for the party controlling the White House to lose congressional seats in midterm elections.
Trump remains a powerful figure within the Republican Party, with many candidates relying on his ability to mobilise voters who turned out for him in the 2024 presidential election.
One of Trump’s biggest domestic pledges was a promise to give every American adult a $5,000 payment if Republicans retain control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Trump described the payment as a “dividend”, although he gave no details on how it would be funded or implemented.
Questions also remain over whether the payments could be introduced without approval from Congress.
Trump also linked the timing of the war with Iran to the U.S. midterms, claiming Tehran was trying to prolong the conflict to influence voters.
“I think war is going to end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer,” Trump told reporters. “They’re desperate to try and affect the election.”
The comments came as Washington and Tehran launched their biggest wave of attacks on shipping since the six-month-old conflict began.
Iran said it attacked 10 vessels near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after the United States sank five Iranian oil tankers.
Brent crude remained above $100 a barrel as disruptions continued along key energy routes through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.
Trump renewed his threat to strike Pickaxe Mountain, a heavily fortified site near Iran’s damaged Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
“We notice there’s a little activity at Pickaxe,” Trump said. “I would advise Iran not to get cute because we will have to hit them very hard.”
The site reportedly contains two deeply buried tunnel complexes associated with Iran’s nuclear programme.
Washington and Israel launched strikes on Iran in February over concerns about Tehran’s nuclear activities. Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is peaceful.
Trump has threatened to attack Pickaxe Mountain on several occasions since at least mid-July.
While defending his handling of the Iran conflict, Trump also joked about renaming the Strait of Hormuz after himself.
“We’re going to name it the Trump Strait,” he told the convention.
The comment came as traffic through the strategic waterway remained heavily disrupted.
Only seven vessels passed through the strait on Wednesday, according to preliminary ship-tracking data cited by Reuters, about half the average over the previous 10 days.
Before the war, around a fifth of global oil supplies passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump repeatedly defended his decision to launch military action against Iran, despite concerns that the conflict and higher fuel prices could hurt Republicans in November.
He acknowledged that voters had complained about the economic impact of the war.
“You know, I wish you didn’t do the war in Iran. Gasoline’s up,” Trump said, describing conversations with supporters.
His response, he said, was simple: “Can Iran have a nuclear weapon? Absolutely not.”
Trump argued that previous U.S. strikes had prevented Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, while presenting the military campaign as necessary to protect U.S. and regional security.
Trump also issued a stark warning over the consequences of a Democratic victory in November.
“If they win, every bill becomes a ransom negotiation,” he said.
He added: “You will be going through hell just like we did two years ago.”
Other Republican speakers also portrayed the election as a defining ideological contest, although most avoided discussing the increasingly unpopular Iran war before Trump took the stage.
The president, however, made the conflict a central theme of his address.
The Dallas convention highlighted how closely Republicans are tying their midterm campaign to Trump personally, even as the Iran war and its impact on energy prices pose political risks for the party.
Trump promised to campaign aggressively for Republican candidates ahead of November, casting the elections as a referendum on his domestic record and foreign policy.
With control of Congress at stake, Trump’s message was clear: the 2026 midterms should be seen not simply as congressional elections, but as another vote on his presidency.
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Four people were killed, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian port city of Novorossiysk overnight, according to the governor of the Krasnodar region. Ukraine's drone forces commander, Robert Brovdi, said Russian military ships were destroyed in the attacks.
A TV channel was struck during a live broadcast on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Russian strikes on Kyiv killed at least three people, the city's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Meanwhile, drones hit civilian infrastructure in Russia's southwestern Saratov region.
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U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) allegedly launched two ballistic missile attacks against a U.S. Navy warship over the past two days.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on Wednesday they attacked two U.S. vessels and eight oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, calling the strikes a response to a U.S. attack on five Iranian tankers.
Ukrainian forces struck a Russian oil refinery in Siberia and a seaport in Dagestan in the past 24 hours, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. He will meet Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday to discuss air defences for Ukraine over winter.
Oil has crossed the $100-a-barrel mark again, but for Gulf countries this is not simply good news. Brent reached about $100.07 on Wednesday, its highest level since July, as the U.S.-Iran war and attacks on Saudi energy facilities raised fresh fears about supplies.
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U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to send every American adult a $5,000 payment if the Republicans keep control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in November's midterm elections.
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