What a Democratic-controlled US Congress can and cannot do in the Middle East

The National · Bilal Saab, Jodie Wen · 2026-11-05 13:30 UTC

Democrats can make the Iran war harder to defend. Forcing Trump to end it is another matter

The resounding Democratic win in the US midterm elections will make life harder for President Donald Trump, but it won’t flip US Middle East policy any time soon. The bigger shift is political. On Iran, military aid to Israel and Gulf security, the new majority can start questioning long-unchallenged assumptions and testing what Washington will actually sustain.

Officials in the region – Tehran above all – will be asking two things: Can Democrats rein in Mr Trump? And will the political shift outlast him?

Mr Trump is still commander-in-chief. He runs diplomacy, controls the military and holds a veto that Democrats probably can’t override. But control of both chambers lets them hold investigations, set the terms of debate and make his choices costlier. They can narrow his options even if they can’t close them off.

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