A Ukrainian drone strike on an Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea is a largely overlooked development that shows President Donald Trump's approach to Iran is failing and could reshape November's midterm elections, according to former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
Schmidt raised the strike during an episode of his podcast, «The Warning,» in a conversation with Beshear, calling it «a momentous event» that has been underreported because it combines two theaters of war. «What should the American people know about this moment in time and the danger we're facing?» Schmidt asked.
Beshear did not hold back. «The American people should know that Donald Trump and his foreign policy are absolute failures,» the Kentucky governor said. «He got us into a war of choice that has only made the country that we went to war with more powerful. Iran is more powerful today based on their control of the Strait of Hormuz than they were before this war started.»
Beshear argued the administration launched the war without a realistic goal, while putting Americans at risk as the national debt and deficit rise. «This is not just bungling international. It is really damaging at home,» he said. «And he doesn't have a way out of it.»
The warnings come as Trump himself acknowledged the conflict may not end quickly. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting at Camp David on Friday, Trump said Americans should be prepared for continued fighting with Iran and predicted Tehran would eventually «peter out» as U.S. strikes weaken its ability to retaliate. Asked whether attacks could continue until Iran could no longer strike back, Trump replied: «Yeah, sure, I think so. I'd be foolish to say no. You know, you always have to keep your guard up.»
Trump's remarks contradicted the administration's earlier assertions that it had dismantled Iran's military. In April, the White House said U.S. forces had achieved the objectives of Operation Epic Fury, including destroying Iran's Navy and its ballistic missile and drone capabilities. Tehran has nevertheless continued to launch missiles and drones at American bases and to threaten commercial shipping.
Hostilities resumed in July after Iran attacked vessels transiting the strategically vital waterway, following the collapse of an agreement Washington and Tehran reached in June. The renewed exchange came after the U.S. launched a heavy wave of strikes against Iranian military sites in response to missile attacks targeting American forces in the region. U.S. Central Command said the strikes hit dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets, including command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal defenses and maritime capabilities.
Trump, meanwhile, said he was «losing faith» in a negotiated deal, accusing Tehran of lying. «They do lie, and they do misrepresent,» he said. «All they do is make me angry.» The fighting leaves no clear end as the November midterms approach, adding political pressure on the president to explain how and when the conflict will conclude.
Beshear also attacked the administration's negotiation strategy, saying Washington is not sending its most experienced officials to the table. «We have amazing people in the Foreign Service that spend decades understanding every nuance of every word that an Iranian negotiator would say at the table to put us in the best position to get a peace deal that prevents a nuclear weapon,» he said. «But we don't send them.»
Instead, he said, Trump has relied on developer and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Vice President JD Vance, whom Beshear called «a vice president who is way out of his league just being vice president, much less trying to negotiate and failing to negotiate any lasting peace.»
«It is bananas that foreign policy would be conducted this way and that the Senate and the House haven't stopped it and are allowing a president to just go to war and make decisions on his gut,» Beshear added. «When we know our munitions are low, when we know our sailors have been on some of the longest deployments ever. It is the worst that you could ever potentially run a foreign conflict.»
Schmidt and Beshear framed the war as a defining issue for the midterm elections, predicting voters would rebuke the administration. Beshear's remarks reflect a broader argument that the conflict is both a foreign policy disaster and a domestic burden.
