After Democratic Midterm Win, Attention Turns to Trump's Foreign Policy and Iran War

Democrats won control of Congress in Tuesday's midterm elections, delivering a heavy defeat to President Donald Trump's Republican Party and prompting analysts to look at how it could shape his foreign policy. The outlets covering the story say the Iran war, launched in Operation Epic Fury, a surprise attack with Israel that killed senior Iranian leaders, was unpopular at home, largely because of higher energy prices tied to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump told the Financial Times he had no immediate plans to strike Iran. The head of the Munich Security Conference told Politico that Europe should brace for more acrimony, and policy toward Ukraine is especially uncertain, with the White House likely to press European nations on trade and defense. Iranian parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X that Americans had said no to war, and warned of consequences if Washington ignored that. Democrats have pledged to use their powers in the House and Senate to roll back Trump's rivalries.

Left-leaning outlets MS NOW and NPR frame the result as a question about limits. MS NOW identifies three areas where Trump's foreign policy could escalate and says that a Democratic Congress restraining him is far from certain. NPR's Leila Fadel interviews historian and journalist Anne Applebaum on how much a Democrat-led Congress can steer policy. The right-leaning Washington Examiner instead leads with Trump's foreign adversaries celebrating, quoting Iranian officials, including Ghalibaf, who claimed credit for the outcome, and noting that Democrats want to undo Trump's confrontations. Both sides tie the result to Iran and the world's reaction, but the left focuses on congressional power and the right on enemies' reactions. Independent outlets differ: Semafor expects a lame-duck Trump to focus abroad, while Responsible Statecraft calls the vote a rejection of both Trump's and Biden-era foreign policy.