War-wary Hill Republicans question Trump’s Iran strategy with control of Congress at stake

By Sarah Ferris, Manu Raju, CNN

(CNN) — A growing number of Hill Republicans say they are frustrated with President Donald Trump’s ever-changing strategy in Iran — dangling a ground invasion one day, touting progress in peace talks the next — in a conflict many fear will cost them their majority this fall.

Hours after Trump’s latest threat to seize a key Iranian oil hub, several key Republicans — from centrists to leadership allies to MAGA loyalists — told CNN on Thursday they were deeply uncomfortable with the president’s threat to deepen the conflict without a clear strategy. And with gas prices and inflation again spiking, they fear the war will become the defining issue of an already-tough midterm election.

“I think people are really feeling it,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican, said in an interview. “It’s not just gas prices, food prices, and other things, and I think there’s a level of frustration. … So I think the pressure is for the president to reach a peace solution and move on.”

“Get it done. Get out,” said Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a centrist from New Jersey who stressed he supports the ultimate goal of defanging Iran’s nuclear powers. “We need an exit strategy.”

Angst over the war has been spiking for weeks among Hill Republicans. A growing chorus of lawmakers are now bluntly warning about the economic toll of the Iran war, fearing voter blowback over rising prices and calling for a swift end to the conflict. Trump’s main response so far has been a push to temporarily freeze the federal gas tax — a measure widely panned by Republicans who say it amounts to little savings back home. And they say the White House isn’t doing any favors with his recent anti-weaponization fund or ballroom security effort — not to mention his “I love the inflation” remarks just a day earlier.

“Makes absolutely no sense to me,” GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said of Trump’s remarks, voicing concern about the party’s midterm message heading into November. “The fact that we’re not talking about or focused on the things that most people care about at election time, kitchen table issues, I think, is a problem.”

It all amounts to a rising sense of unease among Hill Republicans, including party leaders, about how to navigate the politics of the war, spiking inflation and voter anger alongside a president who demands their full loyalty. On Iran, they’re also worried about how they can deliver Trump’s massive Pentagon funding request — as much as $350 billion, the president has suggested — sometime by August, amid widespread discontentment in their party over military strategy.

Several top lawmakers, including the House GOP’s top spending leader, Rep. Tom Cole, have complained that they’ve been in the dark about how much the war will cost. Others have lamented that Trump has yet to lay out a convincing case to the American public — or to them personally. And some, like Rep. Nick LaLota of New York, are not ruling out backing a vote to formally authorize the conflict, against party leaders’ wishes, to assert Congress’ authority in the monthslong war.

“I think we can lay out the case right, but we haven’t done a good job at it,” retiring Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said of the administration’s ability to make the case for the conflict.

If Trump does decide to escalate the war in Iran — after retracting threats of new strikes earlier Thursday — he will need to make a clearer case to some in his own party.

Congressional Republicans are broadly skeptical of any move to put US troops on the ground and prolong the war. That includes Trump’s threat earlier Thursday to seize Kharg Island, which drew sharp warnings from his party.

“I don’t support boots on the ground. I don’t think America has the stomach for that,” LaLota said, when asked about Trump’s call to seize that oil infrastructure hub.

Asked if he would want to formally authorize any US operation doing so, LaLota did not rule it out: “It’s interesting. I would like to take a look at that if such a proposal is made.”

Republican Sen. John Kennedy, a loyal Trump ally, offered similarly candid remarks on Thursday, saying he was “worried” about the president’s Kharg Island suggestion and offering a stark warning that “this is how it started in Vietnam” — all while pointing to the steep economic toll.

“I think the president has clearly decided to take the pain. I think he’s decided that long-term, the benefits of crippling Iran permanently, if possible, are worth the costs to our economy, to our inflation rate, and the world’s economy. I think he’s made that decision, and it has been painful,” Kennedy said, adding that he can’t say it’s “wrong” because he’s not in the classified briefings.

Even GOP lawmakers who strongly support the war have publicly and privately acknowledged their party has mishandled messaging around the issue.

“It needed to happen even if it costs us our majority. And it might,” one lawmaker told CNN, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the fraught politics of the war.

Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor in Alabama, acknowledged that “everybody is having problems” with inflation.

“We do have to get it under control,” said Tuberville, who also stressed the party can’t make decisions based on potential political fallout. “We can’t worry about that. We’ve gotta worry about the world.”

Any political fallout, however, remains a concern for a number of Republicans, including Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, who argued that “people often vote their pocketbook. … If people don’t feel secure financially, they oftentimes obviously respond by choosing somebody else.”

“There’s no question that history is against us. Inflation is as big an issue to voters as any other issue” — perhaps even over security issues, Cramer said. But he argued Democrats haven’t offered a better solution and suggested voters might have soured on both parties: “I don’t think people have a great deal of confidence in any of us right now, quite honestly.”

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who has backed Trump’s push for a gas tax holiday, said this week’s inflation numbers should be a “wake up call” for Republicans to take action on high prices.

“We need some relief, and Congress can deliver some relief,” he said, warning: “If Congress doesn’t deliver the relief, I think voters are not going to be pleased.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Morgan Rimmer, Dugald McConnell and Casey Riddle contributed to this report.