White House to Nervous GOP: Pump Pain Worth the Prize in Iran Campaign

WASHINGTON — As Operation Epic Fury enters its twelfth day, the White House is delivering a blunt message to anxious congressional Republicans: the spike in gas prices Americans are enduring right now is the necessary cost of eliminating the Iranian threat to our homeland and allies for good.

This is about “short-term spike” for “long-term gain,” a senior White House official confirmed to The Post, making clear the administration won’t blink first in this critical showdown with the Islamic Republic.

The Victory Lap Begins—But Should It End?

Republican lawmakers are publicly celebrating President Trump’s devastating military strikes against Iran’s terror infrastructure. The results speak for themselves: Iran’s navy obliterated, ballistic missile stockpiles destroyed, and the regime’s capability to threaten American interests crippled.

“This is an overriding success. Our military is astounding the world,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) declared on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” Tuesday. “It’s been astounding, historic.”

His next words, however, reveal the growing tension within GOP ranks: “Now it’s time to declare victory.”

The Price Tag Nobody Knows

Lawmakers received estimates that just the first 48 hours of Operation Epic Fury ran approximately $5.6 billion. Twelve days later, the total cost remains a mystery even to those controlling the purse strings.

“I think probably tens [of billions of dollars], but I don’t know,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) admitted to The Post.

Cole raised another critical concern that Washington insiders are whispering about: “We are perilously low on some of the ammunition stocks that we would need if, God forbid, and nobody wants this, we got into a confrontation in the Western Pacific with the Chinese.”

The chairman’s point cuts to the heart of strategic reality—every missile fired at Iranian targets is one less available to deter Beijing.

The Midterm Arithmetic

During their annual policy retreat in Doral, Florida, House GOP leadership huddled to game out funding mechanisms for the Iran campaign. One option on the table: embedding supplemental war spending into a follow-up reconciliation package to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

But the real electoral math keeping Republicans awake at night isn’t in appropriations committees—it’s at the pump.

Gas prices have surged to nearly $3.60 per gallon nationally, up from below $3 before the first bombs dropped. Oil briefly rocketed past $100 per barrel Monday before settling around $85.

That price shock stems directly from Iran’s asymmetric warfare strategy: attacking shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the world’s seaborne oil flows annually.

The Hormuz Chokepoint

“The greatest danger for the Trump administration right now is if they close down the Strait of Hormuz [and] we can’t keep that open,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told The Post. “That’s not going to be good for oil prices, gasoline prices, affordability.”

Johnson didn’t mince words about the stakes: “This was not an easy decision for Trump to make. This was a risky decision for Trump to make. But he had to do it.”

The International Energy Agency announced Wednesday that member nations would release 400 million barrels from strategic reserves to stabilize markets—the largest such release in history. That extraordinary measure underscores just how serious the energy crisis has become.

The Paul Warning

Sen. Rand Paul, the GOP’s most prominent non-interventionist voice, issued a stark electoral forecast on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria.”

“We are behind the eight ball as far as the electoral process,” Paul stated bluntly. “If you add in high gas prices, high oil prices, and if we are still bombing Iran with kinetic action — people don’t want to call it war — if there’s still kinetic action that causes oil to be over $100, I think you’re going to see a disastrous election.”

Paul’s warning carries particular weight given the midterm electoral map. Suburban swing voters who returned to the GOP in 2024 on promises of economic prosperity won’t appreciate paying $4 or $5 to fill their tanks—regardless of the geopolitical justification.

Trump’s Timeline Remains Fluid

President Trump initially suggested a four-week campaign, then hinted operations were proceeding ahead of schedule. His latest statement was characteristically definitive: “Any time I want it to end, it will end.”

The president dismissed concerns about sustained price increases, telling reporters Wednesday that gasoline “prices are coming down very substantially.”

“I figured we’d be hit a little bit. We were hit less than I thought and we’ll be back on track in a pretty short while,” Trump said.

The War Powers Clock

The War Powers Act of 1973 gives the president 60 days to conduct military operations abroad without congressional approval, plus a potential 30-day extension. That clock is ticking.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has kept Democrats’ powder dry on war funding while backing a war powers resolution to halt operations. Whether Democrats would actually vote to defund ongoing military operations remains doubtful—such votes carry enormous political risk.

The strategic calculus is clear: Trump eliminated a generational threat to American security. Iran’s capability to export terrorism, develop nuclear weapons, and threaten navigation in the Persian Gulf has been dramatically degraded.

But wars have consequences. And in American politics, nothing concentrates minds quite like gas prices and midterm elections.

The question now is whether Republicans can maintain their nerve long enough to secure the long-term gains—or whether short-term political pain will force a premature exit that leaves the job unfinished.