President Donald Trump has once again predicted an end to the Iran war as he headed to Dallas to rally Republicans ahead of November's midterm elections.Unsurprisingly he delivered a politically favorable prediction. 'I think the war's going to immediately end after the election,' Trump told reporters on Wednesday, because the Iranians 'can't hold out any longer.'The comment comes as the unpopularity of the Iran war looms over the president's party as it faces losing both the US House and Senate this fall. The Iran war has now lasted more than six months and claimed the lives of 18 American service members.It has also become the heaviest political weight his party carries. Sixty-eight percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of it, according to a UMass Amherst poll taken in late August.An NBC News survey finished on September 1 put approval of Trump's Iran policy at just 31 percent. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Air Force One for a trip to the Republican National Midterm Convention, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, A still image from undated archive footage released by Iranian media on August 24, 2026, shows Mojtaba Khamenei attending a meeting before he assumed the role of Iran's Supreme Leader, at an unknown location An Iranian crude oil carrier identified as M/T Riesco burns after being struck, which US Central Command says it targeted after attempted Iranian missile attacks on a US Navy warship over the past two days, at an unknown location in this still image taken from video released September 8, 2026It remains to be seen if Trump mentions the war in his convention speech later Wednesday.In true Trumpian fashion, the president will speak both nights of the Dallas convention.But the guest list tells its own story about Trump's cratering popularity.Senate Majority Leader John Thune is not speaking, a snub that follows Trump's frustration with the South Dakotan over stalled pieces of his agenda, even as other House and Senate leaders were handed slots.Several candidates in the country's most competitive races are also skipping the main stage, among them Maine's Republican Senator Susan Collins, Congresswoman Ashley Hinson who is running for the US Senate in Iowa, and John E Sununu, the Republican nominee trying to flip New Hampshire's Senate seat red.Most prognosticators expect Democrats to win back the US House of Representatives, but the Senate will be tougher with battleground races in Maine, Ohio, Michigan and Alaska set to determine control.Trump's own trip to Texas was delayed Wednesday after his new Qatari-gifted Air Force One deployed its emergency evacuation slide.Pressed on whether the aircraft was safe to fly, Trump responded: 'Yeah, I am, or I wouldn't be on it.'Minutes after the oddity unfolded, the slide was reportedly seen being taken away from the new plane gifted to Trump from Qatar.After speaking with the press for a prolonged period as the slide was being dealt with, the President boarded the plane as the cameras were still rolling. President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One on September 9th, 2026 at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Texas. Trump is traveling to Dallas to attend the first day of the 2026 Republican National Convention where he is scheduled to deliver the keynote address Air Force personnel remove an emergency inflatable slide after it deployed on Air Force One before President Donald Trump arrived to board at Joint Base Andrews in MarylandVice President JD Vance was pressed about the case of one Air Force widow at Thursday’s White House briefing, when a CNN reporter asked him to make sure the family received its benefits.The widow of a US soldier killed in the Iran war shared online that she was told her family would miss out on combat benefits because the Pentagon, under Pete Hegseth’s leadership, does not officially classify the conflict as a war.Libby Klinner said that when she questioned her husband's final paycheck, the officer assigned to support her after his death told her the family would not receive hazard pay or combat-related tax breaks because 'we were not at war.'Her husband, Major Alex Klinner, 33, died on March 12 when a KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq while supporting US operations against Iran. The Alabama-based airman served with the 99th Air Refueling Squadron and was among six crew members killed in the crash.He left behind three young children; a two-year-old son and twins who were seven months old when he died.The couple married in 2019, with Libby moving to the Pacific Northwest for his job before they relocated to Birmingham, Alabama, in 2022.‘My husband lost his life because we’re in a war,’ she told the Associated Press. ‘It all comes down to principle.’After her statement circulated online, the Air Force contacted her again and said it had itemized her husband's benefits incorrectly, and that combat pay and tax exclusions were in fact included.Klinner said officials acknowledged on Thursday they had provided her inaccurate information and confirmed she had received everything her husband was owed.Vance asked for Klinner’s name and promised the administration would contact her directly after the briefing.‘We want to be as helpful as we can and ensure she gets everything that she is entitled to,’ he said.Elsewhere in the briefing, Vance disputed calling the Iran conflict a war, saying there was ‘no active shooting’, although he acknowledged places where fighting had flared up.Senior commanders warned Hegseth that prolonged Iran operations could weaken US defenses elsewhere, including at home, the Washington Post reported last week.