Americans voted against Trump's Iran war. Gulf countries hope that means an end to the conflict

The US midterm results showed how unpopular Donald Trump's Iran war is. Now, Gulf countries, trapped for months in the middle of the war between the US and Iran, see reason for optimism. After his party's resounding defeat in the US midterm elections this week, President Donald Trump conceded that the war with Iran had likely played a part.

Observers say the United States and Israel had been holding off on major attacks on Iran until after both had held elections . At the end of October, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration was already warning Gulf state governments to brace for a short, intense military campaign after the midterms. While foreign policy is a US president's purview, analysts have pointed out that a Congress controlled by the Democratic party could ostensibly withhold funding for Trump's military expeditions.

However newly-elected Democratic politicians won't take their seats until early next year.