WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2014 In the two weeks since the U.S. and Israel launched\u00a0strikes on Iran, President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0increasingly has been knocked on his political heels.<\/p>\n
He’s grown more agitated with news coverage and has\u00a0failed to find a way\u00a0to explain why he started the war \u2014 or how he will end it \u2014 that resonates with a\u00a0public concerned\u00a0by American deaths in the conflict,\u00a0surging oil prices\u00a0and dropping\u00a0financial markets. Even\u00a0some of his supporters\u00a0are questioning his plan and his overall\u00a0poll numbers\u00a0are declining.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Moscow is getting a boost from the war’s early days after Trump eased sanctions on some Russian oil shipments. That, combined with rising oil prices, undercut the yearslong push to crimp President Vladimir Putin’s ability to\u00a0wage war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
WATCH: Asked what U.S. needs to do to end Iran war, Trump says ‘more of the same’<\/a><\/p>\n Then there are\u00a0Democrats, who were left reeling\u00a0after Trump won the 2024 election. With control of Congress at stake in\u00a0November’s midterms, the party has come together to oppose Trump’s Iran policy and point to the economic turmoil as proof that Republicans haven’t kept their promises\u00a0to bring down everyday costs.<\/p>\n “I think Democrats are well-positioned for this November and the midterms,” said Kelly Dietrich, CEO of the National Democratic Training Committee, which trains party backers to run for office and staff campaigns.<\/p>\n Dietrich said the past two weeks show the Trump administration has failed at long-term planning. “They’re flying by the seat of their pants, and the rest of us are paying the price,” he said.<\/p>\n Trump seeks help securing the Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n The president used both days of the weekend to spend hours at his\u00a0golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. He also attended a closed-door fundraiser for his\u00a0MAGA Inc.\u00a0super PAC at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday night.<\/p>\n Last weekend, Trump played golf at another of his South Florida properties a day after witnessing the dignified transfer for six\u00a0U.S. soldiers\u00a0killed in the Iran war. That\u00a0death toll rose\u00a0this past week.<\/p>\n Trump is increasingly\u00a0complaining about media\u00a0coverage of the conflict, on Saturday writing: “Media actually want us to lose the War.” His\u00a0broadcast regulator subsequently threatened\u00a0to pull broadcast licenses unless they “correct course.”<\/p>\n The president \u2014 who kept\u00a0allies other than Israel in the dark\u00a0about his war plans for Iran \u2014 also for the first time suggested the U.S. would need to lean on the international community to help oil tankers move through the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz, where transportation has been severely disrupted, throwing global energy markets into a tailspin.<\/p>\n Iran has said it plans to\u00a0keep up attacks\u00a0on energy infrastructure and use its effective closure of the strait as leverage against the United States and Israel. A fifth of the world’s traded oil flows through the waterway.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Majority of Americans oppose military action in Iran, new poll finds<\/a><\/p>\n “Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe,” Trump wrote on Saturday, later adding, “this should have always been a team effort.”<\/p>\n It was not clear if that multination push was set to begin or if Trump only hoped it might, however. That’s because he also wrote: “Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected” will “send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer” be threatened by Iran.<\/p>\n The White House has not provided further details on what Trump’s post meant but other countries have reacted to it only cautiously so far.<\/p>\n South Korea plans to “closely coordinate and carefully review” Trump’s comments, while Japan is closely watching developments. Britain’s defense ministry said it was “discussing with our allies and partners a range of options to ensure the security of shipping in the region.”<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said keeping the strait “safe and stable serves the common interests of the international community” and that “as a sincere friend and strategic partner of Middle Eastern countries, China will continue to strengthen communication with relevant parties.”<\/p>\n Trump had pledged at the beginning of the war that U.S. naval ships would escort tankers through the waterway. But that hasn’t happened yet. “It’ll happen soon. Very soon,” he said before boarding Air Force One to fly to Florida.<\/p>\n Still, questions about the strait continue to undermine Trump’s recent pronouncement during a Kentucky rally that, “We’ve won.”<\/p>\n “You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won,” he said. “We won the, in the first hour, it was over.”<\/p>\n The war has far-reaching political implications<\/p>\n The U.S. Treasury Department also announced this past week a\u00a030-day waiver on Russian sanctions\u00a0aiming to free up Russian oil cargoes stranded at sea to help ease\u00a0supply shortages\u00a0caused by the Iran war.<\/p>\n That’s despite analysts saying that spiraling oil prices due to Persian Gulf production blockages are\u00a0benefiting the Russian economy. Moscow relies heavily on oil revenue to finance its war on Ukraine, and sanctions were\u00a0a growing handicap.<\/p>\n Some of Washington’s key allies have decried the move as empowering Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called easing sanctions “not the right decision” and “certainly does not help peace” because it leads to a “strengthening of Russia’s position.”<\/p>\n With midterm races now starting to heat up, Trump was asked Friday night about\u00a0his message to voters\u00a0who believe gas is too expensive.<\/p>\n