Rove expecting Trump to resume ‘kinetic action’ against Iran after midterms

Republican strategist Karl Rove said Wednesday he expects President Trump will resume U.S. strikes against Iran after the midterm elections are over.

Rove made his prediction in an interview with Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade on his series “ The Brian Kilmeade Show ,” who asked the former adviser to former President George W. Bush if “we go back to kinetic action in Iran?”

“He has sort of signaled it,” Rove replied. “And if you look at what’s happening on the ground — two aircraft carriers in the region, a third one on the way, plus enough ground forces, plus enough air assets. If I were the Iranians, I’d be certainly thinking that’s what’s coming my way after the election.”

Trump has warned that the U.S. could attack Tehran after the midterms. The U.S. Central Command (Centcom) has plans ready to resume strikes if it receives authorization from the White House, a source aware of the plans previously told The Hill.

The $47 billion war against Iran has been at a standstill without a ceasefire or peace deal in place. Trump has touted the U.S.’s military prowess over Iran, claiming earlier this month at a campaign rally in Montana that Iran’s army is “decimated” and its “leaders are gone.”

“I should have probably left their leaders because I don’t know who the hell we’re negotiating with,” he quipped.

The president has also repeated his claim that the conflict will soon come to an end.

The U.S. military has more than 50,000 service members in the Middle East and about 20 warships, some of which are helping enforce the naval blockade in the Arabian Sea.

There are two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Middle East and a third one, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, is going to the Centcom region to possibly relieve the USS George Washington.

The eight-month conflict hit the world with an energy shortage after Iran effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil is exported. Soaring gas prices grew to become a key issue in the midterm elections and could be one that voters punish Republican lawmakers over at the ballot box next week.

AAA estimated Thursday that the national average for gas in the U.S. costs $4.23, a $1.20 jump from the national average this time last year.