GOP Senate nominee Hinson: Iowans ‘shouldn’t have to foot the bill’ for Iran war

Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), the Republican Senate candidate in Iowa, on Monday vented voters’ frustrations by declaring that Iowans “shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran.”

Hinson’s decision to link the seven-month military conflict to rising prices in the United States is a notable acknowledgment by a GOP candidate in a key battleground state that President Trump’s foreign policy is hitting Americans hard in the wallet.

“Iowans are being squeezed and shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran. We need to use every option at our disposal to provide some relief from high prices,” Hinson posted on the social platform X .

She called for suspending the gas tax, pausing diesel exports, loosening restrictions on gas with higher blends of ethanol and instituting a “diesel relief program to help our farmers and truckers being crushed by high costs.”

“These actions to lower costs are needed ASAP, and the war needs to be brought to a successful and immediate end. I am working every day to deliver bipartisan results for Iowans and I will work with anyone who is ready to tackle this challenge immediately,” she wrote.

Hinson endorsed the proposal to restrict diesel exports to increase domestic supply and lower prices a few days after Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) touted the idea .

In a post on social media over the weekend, Grassley questioned why Trump doesn’t put an embargo on diesel exports, noting how presidents in the 1970s embargoed agricultural products when food prices were inflated.

“High diesel prices ARE KILLING FARMERS INCOME,” Grassley warned.

Diesel prices have risen sharply since Trump ordered joint strikes with Israel against Iran in February. The average national cost for the fuel was $3.52 per gallon in January and hit an all-time high of $6.50 per gallon on Monday.

Analysts have pointed to lower diesel exports caused by the wars in Iran and Ukraine as the drivers of higher costs.

Hinson’s Democratic opponent, state Rep. Josh Turek, blamed Hinson for being part of the problem of higher prices because she voted against war powers resolutions directing Trump to withdraw troops from the Iran conflict.

“@hinsonashley, it’s easy to send a tweet but when you had the chance to vote to end this war, you chose not to. You voted seven times to continue it, including just last week. It’s time to actually end the forever wars and put Iowa and Iowans first,” Turek posted on X.

“Glad you’re finally following my lead after waffling on the proposals I put forward last week to address the rising costs of the war in Iran,” he wrote.