GOP nominees call for end to Iran war while on campaign trail

GOP nominees call for end to Iran war while on campaign trail

The Republican Senate candidates in Iowa and Michigan on Monday both called for an end to the U.S. war in Iran , citing the rising fuel costs for those in their respective states.

Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), 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.”

And former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), in a campaign ad said “ Michigan families can’t afford to wait ” for the Iran war to reach its conclusion, calling for an end to the conflict.

Hinson’s and Roger’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 where President Trump’s foreign policy is hitting Americans hard in the wallet.

Hinson 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.

Rogers, meanwhile, released a campaign ad on X showing him at a grocery store. He said that Michiganders are struggling with rising prices as a result of the conflict and that prices must go down .

“The war with Iran needs to end and end quickly ,” he continued. “When it does, energy costs will plummet. But Michigan families can’t afford to wait for that to happen. We need to do something now.”

Rogers proposed suspending the state and federal gas tax of 70 cents a gallon and called for a temporary embargo on American diesel exports until the conflict is over. An increase in supply going to farmers and truckers will put “downward pressure” on the price of diesel.

Iran’s effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil is exported, has led to sharply rising gas and diesel prices. The national average for gas reached $4.48 as of Monday, $1.30 higher than last year’s average, according to AAA. The average for diesel costs $6.51 per gallon as of Monday.

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