Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed appears to blame Netanyahu for Iran war, says Trump was willing to fight it

Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed criticized the U.S. war in Iran during a campaign town hall Saturday at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Midland in Midland, Michigan, saying a foreign prime minister had spent decades seeking such a conflict.

“War in Iran. Everybody could have told you this is a dumb idea,” El-Sayed said. “There was really only one person in the whole world who’s had a 40-year project to get us to fight this war. He’s a prime minister of another government. And he finally found the dumbass who was willing to do it.”

El-Sayed did not name the prime minister in that passage, but his remarks appeared to refer to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has publicly warned about Iran’s nuclear program and pressed for action against it for decades.

El-Sayed also criticized President Donald Trump’s tariffs, saying Michigan households are paying about $5,600 on average as a result. The figure comes from a National Taxpayers Union Foundation estimate of the cumulative cost of Trump-era tariffs to Michigan households since January 2025.

He also responded to repeated attacks from Trump and Vice President JD Vance during the Senate campaign, saying they “can’t seem to keep my name out their mouth” and adding that they would have to learn how to say it “with the word senator in front of it in November.”

El-Sayed, who won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary in August, is running against Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers in the November 3 election for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.